Quotes, sayings and aphorisms of Chekhov. Quotes about illness If against any illness it is suggested

Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and the goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with

One of Chekhov’s friends recalls the following incident:
- One day we started talking about “Steppe”. For some reason, I remembered at the very beginning the phrase on which I stumbled when reading the story for the first time: “She was alive until she died...” Something like that.

It can not be! - Chekhov exclaimed and immediately took a book from the shelf and found the place: “Before her death, she was alive and carried soft bagels from the market,” Chekhov laughed. - Indeed, I didn’t see it that way. However, today’s public doesn’t eat that kind of fruit. Let it go!
This phrase remained in the story.

website collected the timeless statements of the writer, whose natural wit, paradoxical thinking and laconicism still remain unsurpassed.

1. The point is not pessimism or optimism, but the fact that ninety-nine out of a hundred have no mind.
2. If a person doesn’t smoke or drink, you can’t help but wonder if he’s a bastard?
3. Going to Paris with your wife is the same as going to Tula with your samovar.
4. There are people who always say only smart and good words, but you feel that they are stupid people.
5. If your wife cheated on you, then be glad that she cheated on you and not on your fatherland.
6. The university develops all abilities, including stupidity.
7. They say that in the end the truth will prevail, but this is not true.
8. Only ordinary, herd people are healthy and normal.
9. In order to feel happiness in yourself without interruption, even in moments of grief and sadness, you need to: a) be able to be content with the present and b) rejoice in the knowledge that it could be worse.
10. When a splinter gets into your finger, rejoice: “It’s good that it’s not in the eye!”
11. A very good man has such a face that he is mistaken for a detective; they think he stole the cufflinks.
12. Wonderful day today. Either go drink tea, or hang yourself.

1. Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand everything.
2. Anyone who is alien to life, who is incapable of it, has no choice but to become an official.
3. One pain always reduces another. If you step on the tail of a cat whose teeth hurt, it will feel better.
4. You can't put a loaded gun on stage if no one is going to fire it.
5. Hundreds of miles of deserted, monotonous, burnt-out steppe cannot bring about such despondency as one person when he sits, talks and it is not known when he will leave.
6. If you want to have little time, do nothing.
7. You need to squeeze the slave out of yourself drop by drop.
8. Nobody wants to love the ordinary person in us.
9. If a lot of remedies are offered against a disease, this means that the disease is incurable.
10. Don't let people go crazy.

Chekhov with his wife Olga Knipper.

1. “Cynic” is a Greek word, translated into your language meaning: a pig who wants the whole world to know that she is a pig.
2. These smart guys are all so stupid that there is no one to talk to.
3. If all people came to an agreement and suddenly became sincere, then everything would go to hell for them.
4. A talented person in Russia cannot be clean.
5. If your action upsets someone, this does not mean that it is bad.
6. Becoming a writer is very easy. There is no freak who has not found a mate, and no nonsense that has not found a suitable reader.
7. You cannot demand from dirt that it not be dirt.
8. “Know thyself” is excellent and useful advice; It’s just a pity that the ancients didn’t think of showing a way to use this advice.
9. Leaving people is suicide.
10. There is nothing good on earth that does not have something nasty in its original source.
11. ...the post office has long had a reputation as an institution that is scary to visit.
12. I respond to pain with screams and tears, to meanness with indignation, to abomination with disgust. In my opinion, this, in fact, is called life.
13. Life, in fact, is a very simple thing and a person needs to make a lot of effort to ruin it.

site based on materials from the Collected Works of A.P. Chekhov in twelve volumes.
Photos from the archive of the site anton-chehov.info

When you love, you discover such wealth in yourself, so much tenderness, affection, you can’t even believe that you know how to love like that.

A smart person loves to learn, but a fool loves to teach!

I'm done, gentlemen! - said Mr. John Lund, a young member of the Royal Geographical Society, and, tired, sank into a chair.

The desire to serve the common good must certainly be a need of the soul, a condition for personal happiness.

Someone with a hammer should stand behind the door of a happy person, constantly knock and remind him that there are unhappy people and that after a short period of happiness, misfortune comes.

There are too many screws, wheels and valves in each of us for us to judge each other by a first impression or by two or three external signs.

Where there is art, where there is talent, there is no old age, no loneliness, no illness, and death itself is half...

I must tell you that your headache does not bother me at all. - And it wouldn’t bother me if you suffered from it...

Then a person will become a better person when you show him what he is...

If you can't write, don't write.

Vodka is white, but it stains your nose and tarnishes your reputation.

A person must work, work hard, no matter who he is, and in this alone lies the meaning and purpose of his life, his happiness, his delight.

Well-mannered people respect the human personality, and therefore are always condescending, gentle, polite, and compliant.

We must strive to ensure that everyone sees and knows more than his father and grandfather saw and knew.

A person loves to talk about his illnesses, but yet this is the most uninteresting thing in his life.

Anyone who is alien to life, who is incapable of it, has no choice but to become an official.

There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.

Science is the most important, the most beautiful and necessary in a person’s life, it has always been and will be the highest manifestation of love, only with it alone will a person conquer nature and himself.

What we experience when we are in love is perhaps a normal state. Falling in love shows a person what he should be.

Don't calm down, don't let yourself be lulled to sleep! While you are young, strong, vigorous, do not get tired of doing good.

Doctors are the same lawyers, with the only difference that lawyers only rob, and doctors rob and kill...

Money, like vodka, makes a person an eccentric.

Wonderful day today. Either go drink tea, or hang yourself.

The character is so undeveloped that it is hard to believe that he was at the university.

It’s even nice to be sick when you know that there are people who are waiting for your recovery, like a holiday.

Lying is the same as alcoholism. Liars lie even when they die.

It is interesting to marry only for love; marrying a girl just because she’s pretty is like buying an unnecessary thing at the market just because she’s pretty.

A person is what he believes in.

Beware of refined language. The language should be simple and elegant.

The administration divides into tax-paying and privileged... But not a single division is suitable, for we are all people and all the best that we do is the work of the people.

The university develops all abilities, including stupidity.

Even in human happiness there is something sad.

Good weather. I don’t know whether to drink tea or hang myself.

One pain always reduces another. If you step on the tail of a cat whose teeth hurt, it will feel better.

A person says stupid things when he is wrong and stupid.

Doesn't the benefit given to Ivan serve to the detriment of Peter?

When a splinter gets into your finger, rejoice: “It’s good that it’s not in the eye!”

Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand everything.

It’s both good and sensitive, just incomprehensible.

Mocking the suffering of others should not be forgiven.

The cheapness of Russian goods is a certificate of their worthlessness.

If a person doesn't understand a joke, it's a lost cause! And you know: this is no longer a real mind, even if a person has seven spans in his forehead.

They say that philosophers and true sages are indifferent. It’s not true, indifference is paralysis of the soul, premature death.

Life has passed as if you had never lived...

Russian people love to remember, but do not like to live.

…When we love, we never stop asking ourselves questions: is it fair or dishonest, smart or stupid, what will this love lead to, and so on. I don’t know whether this is good or not, but that it interferes, does not satisfy, irritates - I know that.

At all times, the richness of language and oratory went hand in hand.

Green eyes are found in fools or crazy people.

The weather on Sakhalin is disgusting, conducive to tedious, endless drunkenness.

...Whoever has experienced the pleasure of creativity, for that all other pleasures no longer exist.

If you look at another creature, you will receive a million delights, but if you look into the soul, you will see an ordinary crocodile.

In family life, the most important screw is love.

Nature has invested in Russian people an extraordinary ability to believe, an inquisitive mind and the gift of thinking, but all this is broken into dust by carelessness, laziness and dreamy frivolity...

A woman can be a man’s friend only in the following order: first a friend, then a lover, and then a friend.

Good parenting is not about not spilling sauce on the tablecloth, but about not noticing if someone else does it.

Life is very simple! You need to try very hard to complicate it!

The eyes are black, the lips are like a bow - and in the soul - a real crocodile!

How sometimes unbearable are people who are happy, who succeed in everything.

What is incomprehensible is also a miracle.

Please, gentlemen. Hang your ears, so to speak, on a nail of attention.

We need smart, educated people; as humanity approaches a better life, the number of these people will increase until they form the majority.

The meaning of life is only in one thing - struggle.

A woman must be raised so that she can recognize her mistakes, otherwise, in her opinion, she is always right.

It's not Shakespeare that's important, but the notes to it.

I can’t understand what I actually want, to live or to shoot myself.

You must put your life in such conditions that work is necessary. Without work there cannot be a pure and joyful life.

If a person doesn’t drink or smoke, you inevitably begin to wonder if he’s a bitch.

People who live alone always have something on their minds that they would be willing to tell.

What a great happiness it is to love and be loved.

Children are holy and pure. You can’t make them a toy of your mood.

An idle life cannot be pure.

Giving free rein to your imagination, hold your hand.

You can reach convictions only through personal experience and suffering.

He who cannot take with affection will not take with severity.

You never love your loved ones more than when you risk losing them.

The unfortunate are selfish, evil, unjust, cruel and less able to understand each other than fools. Misfortune does not unite, but separates people...

If you are afraid of loneliness, then don't get married.

There is no such thing that would not suit a Jew for a surname.

I don’t at all want something special to come out of me, for me to create something great, but I just want to live, dream, hope, keep up with everything... Life... is short, and we need to live it better.

Death is terrible, but even more terrible would be the knowledge that you will live forever and never die.

In this world there is a lot of evil and all sorts of dirty tricks from the female sex. Not only we sinners, but also holy men were seduced.

Woman is an intoxicating product, which they still haven’t thought of imposing an excise tax on.

The higher a person’s mental and moral development, the freer he is, the more pleasure life gives him.

It is, of course, so and so, all this is wonderful, but no matter what happens.

While I did not love, I also knew very well what love was.

It's never too early to ask yourself: am I doing business or trifles?

A kind person is ashamed even in front of a dog.

People only drink tea, but a tragedy occurs in their souls.

Aphids eat grass, rust eats iron, and lies eat the soul.

I believe that nothing passes without a trace and that every little step matters for the present and future life.

If you find yourself in a flock, bark, don't bark, just wag your tail.

It’s good where we are not: in the past we are no longer there, and it seems beautiful.

The fallen angel betrayed God, probably because he wanted loneliness, which angels do not know.

When there is no real life, they live in mirages.

Everything in a person should be beautiful: his face, his clothes, his soul, and his thoughts.

If you want to have little time, don't do anything.

Truth and beauty have always been the main thing in human life and on earth in general.

Russian people lack the desire to desire.

The point is not pessimism or optimism, but the fact that ninety-nine out of a hundred have no mind.

Happy is he who does not notice whether it is summer or winter.

A writer should write a lot, but should not rush.

Anger is a kind of cowardice.

We do not live to eat, but to know what to eat.

When people love each other, they do not quarrel, but calmly sort things out.

Women without male society fade, and men without female society become stupid.

If you want to become an optimist and understand life, then stop believing what they say and write, but observe and delve into it.

There are people who always say only smart and good words, but you feel that they are stupid people.

Becoming a writer is very easy. There is no freak who has not found a mate, and no nonsense that has not found a suitable reader.

My only illness is that in twenty years I have found only one smart person in the whole city, and he’s crazy!

These smart guys are all so stupid that there is no one to talk to.

This can't happen because it can never happen.

If a lot of remedies are offered against a disease, this means that the disease is incurable.

Mother Nature is a book that must be read and seen.

There is nothing so good on earth that in its original source it would not have filth.

And whoever seeks salvation in changing places, like a migratory bird, will find nothing, since for him the earth is the same everywhere.

Fortunately or unfortunately, there is nothing in our lives that does not end sooner or later.

There are people whose intelligence can be accurately judged by their voice and laughter.

An ordinary person expects good or bad from outside, but a thinking person expects it from himself.

I respond to pain with screams and tears, to meanness with indignation, to abomination with disgust. In my opinion, this, in fact, is called life.

You must look for salvation only in yourself.

It is not the one who does not know how to write stories who is mediocre, but the one who writes them and does not know how to hide it.

Only in trouble can people understand how difficult it is to be the master of their feelings and thoughts.

He drinks and can be rude, but what's the harm? A talented person in Russia cannot be clean.

“If you drown people and hang them,” said Samoilenko, “then to hell with your civilization, to hell with humanity!” To hell!

You cannot demand from dirt that it not be dirt.

Without knowledge of languages, you feel like without a passport.

If a lot of remedies are offered against a disease, then the disease is incurable.

There are thousands of diseases, but there is only one health.

The disease of love is incurable.

In addition to real diseases, we are susceptible to many imaginary diseases.

Hypochondriacs are treated with diseases.

This is an outstanding doctor: he invented several diseases and even managed to spread them widely.

It’s not good to get sick, it’s even worse to die, but to get sick and die with the thought that there will be nothing left in the world after you is the worst of all.

Most of our illnesses are the work of our own hands; we could have avoided almost all of them if we had preserved the simple, monotonous and solitary lifestyle that nature prescribed for us.

Interesting statuses about the disease

As long as there is illness, there will be not only fear, but also hope.

The dream of Russian doctors is that the poor never get sick, and the rich never get well.

Severe interesting statuses about the disease

Sclerosis cannot be cured, but it can be forgotten.

Illness, the mother of modesty, reminds us that we are mortal. When we are at the peak of fame and prosperity, she gently tugs at our ears - they say, come to your senses.

For a healthy person, life, strictly speaking, is just an unconscious escape, which he does not admit to himself - an escape from the thought that sooner or later he will have to die. Illness is always both a reminder and a test of strength. Therefore, illness, pain, suffering are the most important source of religiosity.

What good there is in health is revealed by illness.

Just because you have been discharged from a mental hospital does not mean that you have been cured. You just became like everyone else.

Our old age is a disease that needs to be treated like any other.

What is illness if life is not constrained in its freedom?

Only a tongue affected by cancer shows a tendency to develop new growths.

Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of humanity. In the nineteenth century it was a disease, in the twentieth it became a treatment.

The origins of all pessimism lie in a woman’s infidelity or stomach illness.

One of the most common diseases is to make a diagnosis.

Hidden interesting statuses about the disease\

The habit of contradiction is a disease of the mind, which sometimes harms the heart.

Health is as contagious as disease.

A serious illness is easy to cure at first, but difficult to recognize; when it intensifies, it is easy to recognize, but difficult to cure.

If the patient really wants to live, doctors are powerless.

If you are sick, hurry to forgive your enemies: you can get better.

If a person studies his body or moral state, he will certainly admit that he is sick.

A sage will rather avoid diseases than choose remedies against them.

Awareness of your illness and willingness to be treated is already the beginning of healing.

Health is not valued until illness comes.

A truly refined and kind doctor who invents a new disease for each of his patients.

Most of all those diseases that we fear most.

Otherworldly interesting statuses about the disease

If a person begins to be interested in the meaning of life or its value, this means that he is sick.

Compassion is akin to mental illness.

The disease is a kind of premature old age.

Our national disease is complacent mental laziness.

We cause ourselves more suffering by being treated for our illnesses than by enduring them.

The more severe the illness, the clearer the inner voice.

Disease is a healing agent of nature itself with the aim of eliminating disorder in the body; therefore, medicine comes only to the aid of the healing power of nature.

When a person is sick for a long time, he becomes more knowledgeable than the doctor himself and begins to understand his illness, which does not always happen even with conscientious doctors.

Long hopes weaken joy just as long illness weakens pain.

The art of medicine is to help the patient pass the time while nature cures the disease.

If a sick person eats a cherry and the next day comes down with a cold, he will certainly be told as a consolation that it is all his fault.

To cure any disease, you must first understand what its causative agents are. The same applies to the treatment of political diseases.

Diseases come and go, but the superstitious soul knows no peace.

Important interesting statuses about the disease

Youth is a disease that quickly passes.

If they invent a cure, they will invent a disease.

My illness is scabies: I scratched it and want more. And the most hated thing is hemorrhoids: you can’t see it for yourself, you can’t show it to people.

Many people die not from their illnesses, but from medications.

Even the most distant relatives have the right to inherit diseases.

Symptoms of deteriorating health: insomnia, clean-shaven chin, extreme neatness in the restroom and bathroom, caution when crossing the street, concern about appearance; aversion to hoarding, indifference to newspapers, courtesy in public places, folie des grandeers.

Our behavior is akin to a contagious disease: good people adopt bad habits, just as healthy people become infected from sick people.

For the family of a mentally ill person, as well as for the family, his illness is a problem; for the patient himself - a solution.

Maybe love really is a disease, but, alas, it is not contagious.

Humanity, like an individual, has its own illnesses with each age.

One of the most common diseases is to make a diagnosis.

Life is a disease of the spirit, an activity excited by passions. It is natural for the spirit to be at peace.

Truth is a perfect mistake, just as health is a perfect disease.

The diseases of old age weaken our attachment to life as we approach death.

Death - you are already completely tired of your illness.

Henryk Jagodzinski

253
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

A person himself creates the history of his illness.

Ivan Ivanyuk

248
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

As long as the doctor forbids us to do something, our affairs are not so bad, the worst thing is when he suddenly allows everything.

Robert Lembke

248
Link to quote
5 minutes to think

The disease takes on healthy forms.

Mikhail Zhvanetsky

242
Link to quote
2 minutes to think

The effect of surgery among the branches of medicine is the most obvious.

Celsus Aulus Cornelius

235
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

The worst diseases are not fatal, but incurable.

M. Ebner-Eschenbach

233
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

About suffering: if it is unbearable, then death will not fail to put an end to it soon, but if it is long-lasting, then it can be tolerated.

Marcus Aurelius

231
Link to quote
5 minutes to think

First the good news, I'm going to name this disease after you.

Steve Martin

229
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

In any illness, not losing your presence of mind and maintaining a taste for food is a good sign, the opposite is a bad sign.

Hippocrates

226
Link to quote
5 minutes to think

After meningitis, a person either dies or remains an idiot. I know this for sure, I myself had meningitis.

Victor Ardov

221
Link to quote
5 minutes to think

Old age is a disease in itself.

Terence

221
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

What is illness if life is not constrained in its freedom?

Karl Marx

217
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Unreasonable fatigue portends illness.

Hippocrates

215
Link to quote
2 minutes to think

Most of our illnesses are the work of our own hands; we could have avoided almost all of them if we had preserved the simple, monotonous and solitary lifestyle that was prescribed to us by nature.

J. J. Rousseau

211
Link to quote
7 minutes to think

The same ailments bring people closer together than the same beliefs.

Robert Lembke

211
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Most of all those diseases that we fear most.

Leszek Kumor

209
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

If a person studies his body or moral state, he will certainly admit that he is sick.

I. Goethe

207
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

The best remedy I know for treating rheumatism is to thank God that it is not gout.

Henry Wheeler Shaw

206
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Neurosis: the heart starts beating like a typewriter.

Ramon Gomez de la Serna

202
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Imaginary illnesses are incurable.

M. Ebner-Eschenbach

198
Link to quote
2 minutes to think

There is no greater pain in illness than the thought of a piece of bread.

Sophocles

196
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Diseases are not treated with eloquence, but with medicines.

Celsus Aulus Cornelius

192
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

The doctor gives me two weeks to live. It would be nice in August.

Ronnie Shakes

183
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Some diseases should be treated without telling the patient about them. Many died because they found out what they were sick with.

Seneca

182
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

If you are sick, hurry to forgive your enemies: you can get better.

Ambrose Bierce

177
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

God knows what's going on in the world! People who have never died before begin to die.

Julian Tuwim

177
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Not only wealth is inherited, but also illnesses.

V. Zubkov

175
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Disease is a healing remedy of nature itself with the aim of eliminating a disorder in the body, therefore, medicine comes only to the aid of the healing power of nature.

Arthur Schopenhauer

170
Link to quote
5 minutes to think

A photograph shows what you were like, and an x-ray shows what you will be like.

Konstantin Melikhan

167
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Some patients should be congratulated for feeling sick.

Seneca

167
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

It must be admitted that some diseases have disappeared or almost disappeared, faced with the mistrust of doctors.

165
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

If your wallet gets fatter and you get thinner, it's either tapeworm or inflation.

Maxim Zvonarev

165
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

It doesn't matter what causes the disease, what matters is what eliminates it.

Celsus Aulus Cornelius

165
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

A person loves to talk about his illnesses, but yet this is the most uninteresting thing in his life.

A. Chekhov

161
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

This politician, as I heard, has charisma. What a shame! After all, in our time it is already curable!

Robert Orben

155
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Anyone who is infected with the fear of illness is already infected with the disease of fear.

Michel Montaigne

54
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

- After all, there is a herb for every disease. What about peat? Captured forbs, a pharmacy, one might say, a swamp. White moss will not allow the wound to rot, sapropel will cure radiculitis. You never know... Every peat has its own use. For some, hot poultices for aching bones, for others, barely warm - for the female part.

Eremey Parnov

53
Link to quote
7 minutes to think

What a boring disease it is to protect your health with an overly strict regime.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

53
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

The patient washes his leg to go to the doctor. When he arrives, he notices that he washed the wrong leg.

Ilya Ilf

52
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Just as there is a disease of the body, there is also a disease of the lifestyle.

Democritus

49
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

Illness is essentially nothing more than a desire for something that should not be desired.

Erich Fromm

45
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

If a lot of remedies are offered against a disease, then the disease is incurable.

Anton Chekhov

45
Link to quote
3 minutes to think

However, cacti also had another meaning for the religion of the Indians. They were used as amulets because the Indians believed in their supernatural powers. Chikuli - Lophophora williamsia, mulato - Mamillaria micromeris, rosarara - Mamillaria lasiacanth denudata, sumani - Ariocarpus fissuratus were talismans that protected against lightning, disease and other blows of fate.

Z. Fleisher

45
Link to quote
7 minutes to think

A strange impression was left by his gaze - he threw his head back very strongly and looked down through his eyelids at his interlocutor, which gave the impression of terrible pride and “inaccessibility.” In fact, he was sick with “heaviness of the eyelids” - they could not rise, and this caused him great suffering.

Leonid Sabaneev

43
Link to quote
7 minutes to think

Here in front of me is a photograph from that time: Thursday, February 28, 1985, Izvestia newspaper. Gray-haired, with slanted cheekbones, Chernenko holds on to the back of the chair with a weak hand, his legs themselves can no longer support him, and in front of him the thick-haired party official does not speak, he simply sings congratulations. And Prokofiev, this one will still climb the ladder to the very top of the Moscow party hierarchy, and here he is relatively young, pointed-nosed, pursed his lips, in his hands with obsequiousness he holds a bouquet of flowers, and for some reason in that bouquet there are white calla lilies, which are usually used to accompany the bride. And from the depths of the photograph, as if remaining in the shadows, Grishin observes with a blissful smile: his staging, his training. It must be assumed that a higher state meaning was hidden in all this: the people were presented with a general secretary, our state is alive and strong. And the next day I heard in line how people for the first time spoke with sympathy about Chernenko: “It’s necessary to laugh at a sick person like that!..”

Grigory Baklanov

39
Link to quote
7 minutes to think

As the widow of a man who died after a consultation of the three best doctors in Paris said: “But what could he do alone, sick, against three healthy ones?”

Alphonse Allais

36
Link to quote
5 minutes to think

Genetically determined skin disorders in humans

If a lot of remedies are offered against a disease,
this means that the disease is incurable.

As you know, the upper layers of the skin are constantly renewed - old cells are replaced by new ones every day. Therefore, the skin cannot be “torn down” like an old dress. This process occurs due to the fact that the skin consists of two layers. The outer, outer layer is called epidermis (Greek epi – “above”, “above” and derma – “skin”). The inner, deep layer is called dermis, or actual skin. This is where the blood vessels pass and the endings of the nerve fibers are located. Dermis contains protein fibers

The formation of the epidermis is similar to the construction of brickwork, with the difference that at a construction site new layers of bricks are laid on top of old ones. In the epidermis, everything happens the other way around. The oldest cells lie on top, and new ones are formed below, at the border of the dermis and epidermis. epidermis This is where stem cells are located keratinocytes keras- “horn”), which form a continuous layer in intact skin. Keratinocytes are constantly dividing. As a result, some of the cells end up on top of the layer of cells that are constantly dividing. Having lost contact with the dermis, young skin cells lose their ability to divide and begin to produce a special protein

keratin

, which mainly consists of human hair and nails.

Dividing keratinocytes gradually push their relatives further and further from the dermis, and the latter, as if being on a crowded escalator, begins a long journey to the surface of the skin. At the same time, the epidermal cells gradually change their shape, becoming more and more flat. After two weeks, they turn into keratinized dead scales, consisting of almost only keratin. Once on the surface, the scales separate from the body to give way to their neighbors, already rising from the depths of the epidermis.

The most curious thing is that the horns and hooves of animals, the feathers of birds and the scales of reptiles also consist of keratin! It’s just that its molecules in the skin formations of other animals are organized in space somewhat differently than in humans. Biologists carried out interesting experiments - they transplanted a piece of mammal skin onto the surface of a bird embryo. At the same time, feather rudiments began to appear on the transplanted piece! This means that our skin cells can produce keratin in different ways. Therefore, it is not surprising that humans have congenital diseases associated with certain disorders of keratin synthesis. Let's talk about some of them. Ichthyoses, keratoses and warts An increase in the intensity of keratin synthesis by skin cells can lead to a number of diseases, which are usually grouped under the general name epidermis keratosis- "fish"). In medical reference books you can find more than thirty types of keratoses, each of which is caused by its own causes. Often these causes have nothing to do with heredity, as, for example, in the case of keratosis caused by arsenic poisoning. However, some types of keratoses are clearly familial, hereditary in nature. We will talk about them further.

The epidermis layer is usually thicker on the palms and soles of the feet than on other parts of the body. Surely, there is more keratin per unit area in these areas of the body. The reason for this is very clear. It is the feet and palms that experience the maximum load when walking and working. You have probably noticed that an increase in such a load causes a thickening of the already dense layer of the epidermis in response, up to the formation of hard callous crusts. A boy, who has been running barefoot all summer in the village, steps on a pine cone and does not feel pain; His entire foot has long been a solid callus. Consequently, our body can regulate the intensity of keratin synthesis depending on the physical stress on the skin. Sometimes this regulation fails. As a result, zones appear in certain areas of the body in which keratin formation occurs intensively, always regardless of mechanical load. An example of such a genetically determined defect is.

palmoplantar hyperkeratosis

Manifestations of this disease are noticeable already in newborns, although the average age for the development of hyperkeratosis is 5–7 years. Symmetrically located yellow-brown plaques with a diameter of 2–10 mm appear on the surface of the body, the color of which is precisely due to excess keratin. Plaques are usually noticeable on the heels and palms of the hands, although they sometimes appear in the elbows and knees. It is believed that the disease is transmitted over a number of generations in a dominant autosomal manner. Sometimes in newborn children, in certain places on the skin, it is possible to notice asymmetrical dark spots, peculiar horny scales - acrokeratomas. They appear especially often on the back of the hands and look like small nodules. In this case they talk about acrokeratosis verrucous

Follicular dyskeratosis (Darier's disease), first described at the end of the 19th century, is also a hereditary dominant disease. It is caused by accelerated maturation of keratinocytes and appears already in childhood. Keratinocytes maturing deep in the epidermis begin to intensively synthesize horny substance even before they reach the surface of the skin. As a result, small, dense, itchy formations appear - nodules (papules), which most often appear in the area of ​​the hair follicles. They most often occur on the face, palms and soles, chest and genitals. Gradually, the nodules increase in size and become covered with fatty scales. Nodules with increased keratin content can merge with each other, forming more extensive plaques. Growths appear in the armpits, groin or behind the ears, emitting an unpleasant odor. Whitish dots are often visible on the mucous membrane of the mouth. Dyskeratosis affects the shape and structure of the nails. The nail plates become deformed and begin to crack (subungual hyperkeratosis). Sunbathing does not soften the course of the disease, but on the contrary, it only stimulates its development.

As mentioned, hair is mainly made up of keratin. Congenital superproduction of keratin by hair follicles, as well as an increase in the number of follicles themselves, lead to the appearance of so-called faun tufts in certain areas of the body. As you know, Faun in Roman mythology was the name of the god of fields, forests, pastures and animals. The faun was also identified with the Greek god - the goat-footed Pan, who was characterized by excessive, almost bestial, hairiness. The scientific name for tufts of hair that grow in a different place is congenital. hypertrichosis(Greek thrix- “hair”). Not very aesthetically pleasing, but not lethal. There are congenital keratoses with much more unpleasant consequences.

Intensive division of cells that synthesize keratin underlies the appearance of warts, which can be considered as miniature benign tumors. Usually they are clearly localized on the body and do not grow.

Sometimes the appearance of warts and an increase in their number is in the nature of a disease. Their total number can reach several dozen. Often this disease is familial. In this case, doctors talk about verrucous keratosis

. The role of heredity in the appearance of warts is not clear. In approximately 50% of patients, ordinary and flat warts can disappear under the influence of suggestion and hypnosis. So, most likely, the cause of the appearance of warts should be sought not in genes, but in the peculiarities of the nervous system.

However, it is believed that the occurrence of some types of warts is caused by a specific virus. In any case, it is known for sure that the appearance of warts in the genital area (the so-called genital warts) in people is a consequence of their infection with the human papillomavirus. Consequently, such warts can be “infected” like an ordinary venereal disease, which usually happens if one of the partners has genital warts. For the normal functioning of the skin, the correct relationship between keratin synthesis and the intensity of division and maturation of keratinocytes is important. With congenital erythroderma(gr. erythros- “red”) this ratio is probably violated. As a result, the patient's nails and hair grow quickly, but at the same time they become thin and brittle. The skin is tightened, it turns red, and cracks appear on it. With a pronounced form of erythroderma, the skin begins to peel off in large plates, which sometimes cover the body with a continuous crust. Fortunately, this unpleasant disease is inherited in a recessive manner. Nevertheless, doctors still register the birth of children with this hereditary skin defect, which is also called

lamellar ichthyosis (lat. lamiella

- “record”). The skin of a newborn seems to be covered with a drying film of glue. It is no coincidence that such unfortunate babies are somewhat unscientifically called “collodion children” (let me remind you that collodion was not so long ago called a type of glue). An even more tragic picture is observed with congenital ichthyosis of the fetus, which is also called, which is often familial and inherited in a recessive manner. In this case, white spots (leukoplakia), cracks and blisters may appear on the mucous surface of the oral cavity, and a characteristic pattern resembling a mesh may appear on the skin of open areas of the body.

Lack of keratin leads to nail dystrophy, or even to their complete absence (anonychia).

Interruptions in keratin synthesis cause blockage of the tear ducts; perhaps their walls become too flaccid. As a result, excess tear fluid constantly pours out through the eyelids; the person experiences painful tearing. Keratin is found in the cells of the eardrum, giving it the necessary flexibility. Therefore, hearing problems are a consequence of congenital dyskeratosis. Cracks in the epithelium occur in the area of ​​the anus, causing the patient considerable suffering. In men, congenital dyskeratosis often leads to pathological changes in the glans penis. For proper functioning of the skin, it is important not only the required amount of keratin, but also the method of laying its fibers or plates.- “necklace”) The name hints at a curious feature of the hair structure - it becomes like a rosary or beads. Thicker areas alternate with thin ones.

As a result, such hair becomes brittle and splits. Congenital anomalies have also been noted, as a result of which the hair shafts twist around their axis, like the trunk of a pine tree growing among the rocks in a strong wind.