7 Skin Diseases That Will Surprise You

The skin is the largest organ in the body, both in weight and in surface area, since it weighs between 2.5 and 4 kilograms and measures approximately 1.67 square meters. It helps us protect ourselves from external infections and regulate our temperature. But like the other organs, the skin can contract diseases, some from birth and others caused by other conditions. To know a little more about this topic, here I present these seven bizarre skin diseases.

#1. The Tree Man Disease: Human Papillomavirus

They look like half men and half trees. Their bodies, especially their limbs, are almost entirely covered by warts that, at first glance, look like the bark of a tree. Still, they suffer from a sporadic dermatological disease known as epidermodysplasia verruciform. One of the best-known cases was documented in Indonesia. Dede Koswara, a 35-year-old man from Indonesia, is nicknamed the “tree man” because of all the branch-like bumps all over his body, which developed after a severe human papillomavirus infection. By 2008, 6 kilograms of these scabs had been removed from his body.

#2. Argyria: blue skin

This disease is caused by ingestion or extended exposure to silver or silver dust, causing the patient to develop a blue or blue-gray color to the skin. It can affect a part of the skin or even completely cover the person. A man named Paul Karason began ingesting colloidal silver in hopes of curing his arthritis, which he says worked. But then she came across this bluish skin side effect, which is permanent.

#3. Hypertrichosis, or resembling the werewolf

Also called werewolf syndrome, this skin condition causes hair to grow in areas where it usually does not. Some people may have a full face full of hair or even the entire body, while some people have it from birth, others it shows over the years. Hypertrichosis is a sporadic disease, with only 50 verified cases since the Middle Ages.

#4. Vitiligo: the disease that Michael Jackson had

This skin disease is more common than the others and is caused by the death of the cells responsible for giving us the color of our skin, ceasing to produce melanin. The symptoms are white spots on the skin in different places and white or gray hair in those places. The cause of this disease is not entirely known, although it has been concluded that there is a specific hereditary relationship.

#5. Tungiasis: the flea that gets under your skin

Tungiasis is a parasitic disease or infectious parasitic disease caused by a flea (Tunga penetrans), an ectoparasite found in all tropical and subtropical parts of the lower world of 1 mm, which gets into the skin, in 99 percent of the cases of the feet, producing intense itching.

#6. Dermatography: hypersensitive skin for artists

The name comes from the fact that it can literally be written or drawn on this extremely sensitive skin type. It is a rare disease where any scratch or light touch will cause the skin to become swollen and red. Although it looks good in photos that can be written on a person’s leg, it is not a disease that you would like to have.

#7. Blaschko lines: those whimsical stripes

This skin disease does not explain since it is only known that they appear to be related to human DNA. They usually follow the same pattern in different patients.

As you can see, the skin is not immune to diseases even though its main objective is to protect us from them, and although some are very little understood, they are being worked on despite the few patients that can be found.