What hides the skin of 2 square meters that

Dr. Med. Yael Adler

Haut nah. Alles über unser grösstes Organ

© 2016 Droemer Verlag

© Yurinova T.B., translation into Russian, 2016

© Aleinikova A.S., illustrations, 2017

© Design. LLC "Publishing house" E "", 2017

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Foreword from a scientific reviewer

We live in a high-tech world, information surrounds us everywhere: on the Internet, on the streets of the city and at home. And our task is to be able to isolate precisely high-quality material among all this abundance that will be useful to us, our families and the environment.

When I accepted the role of scientific editor, I had no idea how useful reading the book of Yael Adler, MD, would be. Ironically, I was lucky enough to meet her in Germany, while on vacation with my mother. The book will be of interest to everyone: a simple and at the same time scientific language, equipped with a share of humor and irony, will not leave indifferent either an adult or a teenager; neither a doctor, nor a person far from medicine; neither woman nor man.

The book describes the structure of the skin, the most important dermatological diseases and cosmetic problems in an accessible language. A large role is given to a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention measures.

I am sure that everyone will find something useful here, because the skin, in addition to being the largest organ of the human body, is also a whole world that we are gradually starting to recognize.

Read and enjoy!

Ksenia Samodelkina,

cosmetologist, dermatovenereologist,

Dedicated to Noah and Liam

The language we speak and its proverbs testify to how important the skin is to us. There are days when a person feels not in your own skin, sometimes he coming out of the skin. Needed at work thick skin; and who has difficulty with the perception of criticism, that is called thin-skinned. Seeing a big spider, one will say: “I don’t itch,” that is, he doesn’t care, and the other will turn pale with fear (this is also about the skin), his skin will run cold, and he will run away in horror, saving his skin. And yet, few people know what the skin really is, how it functions and how much it takes on vital tasks for us.

First of all, the skin protects us from dangerous pathogens, toxins and allergens; it's like an acid-coated brick wall. At the same time, it, like a kind of natural climate control, protects us from overheating, hypothermia, from excessive evaporation of moisture and thus from dehydration.

To protect us from all these dangers, the skin is in constant contact with our outer world: it measures temperature, brings out(from the body) various fluids and secretion products, absorbs light and turns it into heat. In addition, with the help of sensitive cells, hairs and receptors (and there are about 2500 of them per square centimeter on our fingertips), it explores for us the external environment and objects: whether it is windy outside, cold or dry, or whether the object feels smooth or rough, soft or hard, sharp or dull.

According to the latest research, the skin can even smell and hear!

But that's not all. Through the skin we come into contact not only with the environment, but also with other people. Did you know that the messages that come to us from the skin play a decisive role in choosing a partner? Everyone's skin tastes different, and it is the nuances of smell that attract the right person to us. After all, nature strives to ensure that our hereditary genes interbreed in the best possible way, so that we produce healthy and hardy offspring. After all, when two different types of skin meet, then in the case of offspring, this promises a favorable crossing of genes. And there is even a certain political meaning hidden here: the skin does not know racism, it is looking for genetically diverse input data.

One can argue about what is the largest human sexual organ: the brain, since it draws pictures and fantasies and creates attraction, or the skin that we feel during love, which we look at while enjoying, and which noticeably changes during sex . Without exposed skin, there is no arousal. Without skin, there is no attraction. There is no physical touch without skin contact. From voluptuous thoughts, goosebumps run down our skin. Even fetishes are associated with the corresponding symbols: lacquer, leather and fur… all these are erotic substitutes for human skin!


Scientists have concluded that smell plays a leading role in choosing a sexual partner. This is due to the state of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates sweating and the type of skin microflora.

You may have already noted for yourself that when dealing with the topic of skin, you have to deal with things that are not customary to talk about openly. So, for many people, nudity - whether it is visible intimate parts of the body and a sense of shame invisible to the eye - is a taboo; it is also not customary to discuss the bad smell that sometimes emanates from the skin, cellulite, other defects, discharge and other flaws. In short, a lot of what we are reluctant to talk about or perhaps find unpleasant has to do with the skin: dandruff, earwax, acne, grease, sweat, fungus, and the like.

And on the topic of venereal diseases, too, they often prefer not to spread, especially when it comes to where such a disease was caught. Skin doctors are always at the same time venereologists (the very word "venereology" comes from Venus, the goddess of love). It not only infects us with passion, but also infects us with syphilis, gonorrhea, warts, herpes, hepatitis or AIDS - all these are diseases that either mostly appear on our skin or spread from it throughout our body.

For us, skin doctors, all this is not something disgusting, we even find it fascinating. After all, we think and analyze through the senses: we observe, scrape, press and sniff. Because the characteristics, texture, and smell of a skin disease help us unmask the villain that caused the skin problem.

The older generation of skin doctors even found very eloquent and sonorous names for unsightly and, in general, painful skin conditions for us. So, pimples, spots, abscesses and crusts in newborns are united by the general concept of "skin bloom"; we call the blood mesh on the lower leg due to varicose veins "purpura jaune d'ocre" (yellow ocher purple) - in French it sounds so elegant! Red venous thickenings are “cherry angioma” for us, a vascular nevus is a “port wine stain”, and light brown liver spots are “café-au-lait spots”.

And the skin, cracked from dryness, we call eczema "crackle". Indeed, in this case, the skin really looks a bit like cracked, peeling paint on Michelangelo's frescoes on the vaults of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Remember this picture about the history of the creation of the world? Naked muscular Adam, stretching out his hand to God to receive life energy from him...

Of all the organs of the human body, the largest is the skin.

Our colleagues, surgeons or therapists, sometimes chuckle at skin doctors, calling us superficial doctors. Of course, it's completely unfair. After all, our activity has a deep meaning, just like the skin. It interacts not only with the environment and with other people, but also with our inner world. She actively communicates with the human nervous and immune systems. The appearance of our skin largely depends on what is happening inside us: both on how we eat and on what we have with our psyche.

The skin is a mirror of the soul, a screen on which you can observe what is happening in the depths of our soul at the subconscious level. As avid forensic technicians, we are passionately looking for clues on the skin. Sometimes traces lead us to the very depths of the body. And there we suddenly find out that the marks on the skin indicate psychological problems, stress, lack of mental balance, or tell us about our organs and eating habits.

Wrinkles speak of sorrows and joys, scars - wounds, Botox-bound facial expressions - fear of old age, goose bumps - fear or pleasure, and acne - excessive consumption of milk, sugar or starchy foods. Obesity leads to infections in the folds of the skin, and dry or sweaty skin sometimes indicates problems with the thyroid gland. The skin is like a huge archive, full of traces and clues, explicit or hidden. And one who learns to read these traces will be surprised at how often visible signs lead us to knowledge of the invisible.

The human skin is an amazing organ, the largest of all that a person has. It's a miracle! This book is designed to help you better understand our skin, and thus ourselves. Let's explore this miracle together, and you will feel, with your whole skin, how exciting it is.


Scientific Reviewer's Preface
« We live in a high-tech world, information surrounds us everywhere: on the Internet, on the streets of the city and at home. And our task is to be able to isolate precisely high-quality material among all this abundance that will be useful to us, our families and the environment.
When I accepted the role of scientific editor, I had no idea how useful reading the book of Yael Adler, MD, would be. Ironically, I was lucky enough to meet her in Germany, while on vacation with my mother. The book will be of interest to everyone: a simple and at the same time scientific language, equipped with a share of humor and irony, will not leave indifferent either an adult or a teenager; neither a doctor, nor a person far from medicine; neither woman nor man.
The author describes situations that I have encountered more than once and at my receptions, remembering all these stories, I smiled and laughed. This once again proves how close the book is to people from different countries.
The book describes the structure of the skin, the most important dermatological diseases and cosmetic problems in an accessible language. A large role is given to a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention measures.
I am sure that everyone will find something useful here, because the skin, in addition to being the largest organ of the human body, is also a whole world that we are gradually starting to recognize.
Read and enjoy!

Ksenia Samodelkina, cosmetologist, dermatovenereologist, best cosmetologist of 2016 according to the rating of the All-Russian Administrative District of Moscow

Yael Adler

What does the skin hide? 2 square meters that dictate how we live

Dr. Med. Yael Adler

Haut nah. Alles über unser grösstes Organ

© 2016 Droemer Verlag

© Yurinova T.B., translation into Russian, 2016

© Aleinikova A.S., illustrations, 2017

© Design. LLC "Publishing house" E "", 2017

Foreword from a scientific reviewer

We live in a high-tech world, information surrounds us everywhere: on the Internet, on the streets of the city and at home. And our task is to be able to isolate precisely high-quality material among all this abundance that will be useful to us, our families and the environment.

When I accepted the role of scientific editor, I had no idea how useful reading the book of Yael Adler, MD, would be. Ironically, I was lucky enough to meet her in Germany, while on vacation with my mother. The book will be of interest to everyone: a simple and at the same time scientific language, equipped with a share of humor and irony, will not leave indifferent either an adult or a teenager; neither a doctor, nor a person far from medicine; neither woman nor man.

The book describes the structure of the skin, the most important dermatological diseases and cosmetic problems in an accessible language. A large role is given to a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention measures.

I am sure that everyone will find something useful here, because the skin, in addition to being the largest organ of the human body, is also a whole world that we are gradually starting to recognize.

Read and enjoy!

Ksenia Samodelkina,

cosmetologist, dermatovenereologist,

Dedicated to Noah and Liam


Introduction. Reading marks on the skin

The language we speak and its proverbs testify to how important the skin is to us. There are days when a person feels not in your own skin, sometimes he coming out of the skin. Needed at work thick skin; and who has difficulty with the perception of criticism, that is called thin-skinned. Seeing a big spider, one will say: “I don’t itch,” that is, he doesn’t care, and the other will turn pale with fear (this is also about the skin), his skin will run cold, and he will run away in horror, saving his skin. And yet, few people know what the skin really is, how it functions and how much it takes on vital tasks for us.

First of all, the skin protects us from dangerous pathogens, toxins and allergens; it's like an acid-coated brick wall. At the same time, it, like a kind of natural climate control, protects us from overheating, hypothermia, from excessive evaporation of moisture and thus from dehydration.

To protect us from all these dangers, the skin is in constant contact with our outer world: it measures temperature, brings out(from the body) various fluids and secretion products, absorbs light and turns it into heat. In addition, with the help of sensitive cells, hairs and receptors (and there are about 2500 of them per square centimeter on our fingertips), it explores for us the external environment and objects: whether it is windy outside, cold or dry, or whether the object feels smooth or rough, soft or hard, sharp or dull.

According to the latest research, the skin can even smell and hear!

But that's not all. Through the skin we come into contact not only with the environment, but also with other people. Did you know that the messages that come to us from the skin play a decisive role in choosing a partner? Everyone's skin tastes different, and it is the nuances of smell that attract the right person to us. After all, nature strives to ensure that our hereditary genes interbreed in the best possible way, so that we produce healthy and hardy offspring. After all, when two different types of skin meet, then in the case of offspring, this promises a favorable crossing of genes. And there is even a certain political meaning hidden here: the skin does not know racism, it is looking for genetically diverse input data.

One can argue about what is the largest human sexual organ: the brain, since it draws pictures and fantasies and creates attraction, or the skin that we feel during love, which we look at while enjoying, and which noticeably changes during sex . Without exposed skin, there is no arousal. Without skin, there is no attraction. There is no physical touch without skin contact. From voluptuous thoughts, goosebumps run down our skin. Even fetishes are associated with the corresponding symbols: lacquer, leather and fur… all these are erotic substitutes for human skin!


Scientists have concluded that smell plays a leading role in choosing a sexual partner. This is due to the state of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates sweating and the type of skin microflora.

You may have already noted for yourself that when dealing with the topic of skin, you have to deal with things that are not customary to talk about openly. So, for many people, nudity - whether it is visible intimate parts of the body and a sense of shame invisible to the eye - is a taboo; it is also not customary to discuss the bad smell that sometimes emanates from the skin, cellulite, other defects, discharge and other flaws. In short, a lot of what we are reluctant to talk about or perhaps find unpleasant has to do with the skin: dandruff, earwax, acne, grease, sweat, fungus, and the like.

And on the topic of venereal diseases, too, they often prefer not to spread, especially when it comes to where such a disease was caught. Skin doctors are always at the same time venereologists (the very word "venereology" comes from Venus, the goddess of love). It not only infects us with passion, but also infects us with syphilis, gonorrhea, warts, herpes, hepatitis or AIDS - all these are diseases that either mostly appear on our skin or spread from it throughout our body.

For us, skin doctors, all this is not something disgusting, we even find it fascinating. After all, we think and analyze through the senses: we observe, scrape, press and sniff. Because the characteristics, texture, and smell of a skin disease help us unmask the villain that caused the skin problem.

The older generation of skin doctors even found very eloquent and sonorous names for unsightly and, in general, painful skin conditions for us. So, pimples, spots, abscesses and crusts in newborns are united by the general concept of "skin bloom"; we call the blood mesh on the lower leg due to varicose veins "purpura jaune d'ocre" (yellow ocher purple) - in French it sounds so elegant! Red venous thickenings are “cherry angioma” for us, a vascular nevus is a “port wine stain”, and light brown liver spots are “café-au-lait spots”.

And the skin, cracked from dryness, we call eczema "crackle". Indeed, in this case, the skin really looks a bit like cracked, peeling paint on Michelangelo's frescoes on the vaults of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Remember this picture about the history of the creation of the world? Naked muscular Adam, stretching out his hand to God to receive life energy from him...

Of all the organs of the human body, the largest is the skin.

Our colleagues, surgeons or therapists, sometimes chuckle at skin doctors, calling us superficial doctors. Of course, it's completely unfair. After all, our activity has a deep meaning, just like the skin. It interacts not only with the environment and with other people, but also with our inner world. She actively communicates with the human nervous and immune systems. The appearance of our skin largely depends on what is happening inside us: both on how we eat and on what we have with our psyche.

The skin is a mirror of the soul, a screen on which you can observe what is happening in the depths of our soul at the subconscious level. As avid forensic technicians, we are passionately looking for clues on the skin. Sometimes traces lead us to the very depths of the body. And there we suddenly find out that the marks on the skin indicate psychological problems, stress, lack of mental balance, or tell us about our organs and eating habits.

  • . Skin is the largest organ in our body
  • . The skin can smell and hear!
  • . The skin chooses our sexual partner
  • . Skin votes for infrequent washing
  • . You can get hepatitis B through sweat
  • . The skin loses 40,000 scales every minute, which make up 2/3 of the dust in our apartment.
  • . Potato acids are used to create flavors in yoghurts

Foreword from a scientific reviewer

We live in a high-tech world, information surrounds us everywhere: on the Internet, on the streets of the city and at home. And our task is to be able to isolate precisely high-quality material among all this abundance that will be useful to us, our families and the environment.

When I accepted the role of scientific editor, I had no idea how useful reading the book of Yael Adler, MD, would be. Ironically, I was lucky enough to meet her in Germany, while on vacation with my mother. The book will be of interest to everyone: a simple and at the same time scientific language, equipped with a share of humor and irony, will not leave indifferent either an adult or a teenager; neither a doctor, nor a person far from medicine; neither woman nor man.

The author describes situations that I have encountered more than once and at my receptions, remembering all these stories, I smiled and laughed. This once again proves how close the book is to people from different countries. The book describes the structure of the skin, the most important dermatological diseases and cosmetic problems in an accessible language. A large role is given to a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention measures. I am sure that everyone will find something useful here, because the skin, in addition to being the largest organ of the human body, is also a whole world that we are gradually starting to recognize. Read and enjoy!

Ksenia Samodelkina, cosmetologist, dermatovenereologist