He began his career in 1802 at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, where he administered to patients with syphilis, leprosy and other skin disorders. However, at this time, dermatology was unknown as a specific branch of medicine. Alibert believed that when diagnosing skin disorders several criteria needed to be used. He devised a system of classifying skin diseases, similar to the method Antoine Laurent de Jussieu used in botany. Alibert first classified dermatological disorders according to outer appearance, then he divided them into what he called families, generations and species. This system of classification was represented pictorially as the "Tree of Dermatoses".
Alibert was a prodiguous writer, his best known work being the illustrated Descriptions des maladies de la peau. A rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, known as Mycosis Fungoides, was formerly referred to as Alibert-Bazin syndrome, and "barber's itch" was once referred to as Alibert's mentagra.
Alibert JLM (1826/1827). Physiologie des passions, ou, Nouvelle doctrine des sentimens moraux, 2e éd. rév., corr. et augm. (in French), Paris: Béchet jeune.
Alibert JLM (1835). Monographie des dermatoses, 2nd (in French), Paris: Germer Balliere.
