Pyotr Vasilyevich Nikolsky (russian: Пётр Васи́льевич Нико́льский; September 13 [
O.S. September 1] 1858 – March 13, 1940) was a Russian
dermatologist
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medical ...
. He was born in
Usman in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and earned his medical degree from the Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev (now
Taras Shevchenko National University
Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...
) in 1884. After graduating, he studied under Mikhail Stukovenkov at the Department of Dermatology and Venerology in
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
. In 1896, he defended his doctoral thesis on
pemphigus foliaceus
Pemphigus foliaceus is an autoimmune blistering disease ( bullous disorder) of the skin. Pemphigus foliaceus causes a characteristic inflammatory attack at the subcorneal layer of epidermis, which results in skin lesions that are scaly or cruste ...
, in which he described a dermatological condition involving a weakening relationship among the
epidermal
The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water relea ...
layers. The sloughing of skin associated with certain varieties of this condition is now referred to as
Nikolsky's sign
Nikolsky's sign is a clinical dermatological sign, named after Pyotr Nikolsky (1858–1940), a Russian physician who trained and worked in the Russian Empire. The sign is present when slight rubbing of the skin results in exfoliation of the outer ...
. In 1898, he became a professor at the Imperial
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
, and later established the Department of Dermatology and Venerology in
Rostov
Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population:
While t ...
at what is now
Southern Federal University.
He published articles in French as well as Russian on
skin diseases
A skin condition, also known as cutaneous condition, is any medical condition that affects the integumentary system—the organ system that encloses the body and includes skin, nails, and related muscle and glands. The major function of this sy ...
and on the treatment of
syphilis
Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
. He was the author of ''L'etat de la dermatologie et de la syphiligraphie en Russie jusqu'à 1884'' (The State of Dermatology and Syphiligraphy in Russia up until 1884).
References
Dictionary of Medical Eponymsby Barry G. Firkin
BMJ Clinical Evidence(definition of eponym)
1858 births
1940 deaths
People from Usman, Russia
People from Usmansky Uyezd
Russian dermatologists
{{Russia-med-bio-stub