Sardonic smile - a sign of tetanus

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Smile is a special movement of the muscles of the face. Sincere, it is only for joy, pleasant emotions. But a person is able to smile and forcibly. So many hide their sincere feelings.

There are many verbal expressions - "Mona Lisa's smile", "sardonic smile" and the like. But the meaning of these expressions is different. If everyone heard about the famous Mona Lisa, then not many people know about the sardonic. And here it will be about it.

Sardonic smile in the people Sardonic smile

When they talk about a smile, the first thing that comes to mind is sincere, wholeheartedly, with joy. But this is far from the case. She also happens to be faked, stinging, with a grin, and there is talking about pain, this can be said about a sardonic smile.

However, some people believe that it is shown by those who feel something of anger, mockery, contempt. Perhaps in the people and there can be such an expression. But when you say the phrase "sardonic smile" to people involved in medicine, the first and only thing that pops up in your head is tetanus.

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History of the origin of

Even in ancient times, mankind discovered a grass, which in Latin is called "sardony's coat of arms."The person who ate it, soon died in terrible agony. His body was tormented by terrible cramps, and on the face due to paralysis of facial muscles a smile arose, which in honor of the plant was called sardonic. Later in the people it was called "a smile in the face of death."

It was first described in ancient times. In the Roman Empire, Panfilia described the application of the aforementioned grass. And in ancient Greece - Hippocrates. He observed this in a disease that is known today as tetanus.

Sardonic smile with tetanus

Sardonic smile with tetanus

Also this pathology can occasionally appear in patients with severe neurological disorders, but the main disease with which it is associated, to this day remains tetanus.

Sardonic smile in tetanus is the first and key symptom, after the appearance of which doubts in diagnosing disappear.

This terrible manifestation arises from convulsions of facial muscles. These convulsions are of the type of tetanic, that is, the muscles are shortened for a long time. This is the sardonic smile( photo in the article).

Description of a sardonic smile

The face of a man with a sardonic smile looks like this: frightened eyes, a stretched mouth with drooping corners of the mouth, the presence of pronounced folds of the nasolabial triangle. In humans, its appearance is considered a harbinger of death, since after that no man survived. This is due to the fact that after the appearance of the tetanic contraction of facial muscles in tetanus, any treatment loses its meaning. Further distribution of it through the rest of the body takes a few hours and in 100% of cases leads to death.

Legend of

There is also a legend about the origin of this expression.

A long time ago, when there was such a state as Carthage, on the ancient island of Sardinia, one cruel ritual was carried out - the murder of the elderly. The poor old people were simply sacrificed.

Sardonic smile photo The fact is that at that time life was not easy, it was necessary to work a lot, and elderly people were a burden for the inhabitants of this island. And to get rid of this "mountain from the shoulders", they got rid of this burden.

There is such an all-powerful god, Chersonesus, is the god of time. And to stop time and aging, people sacrificed the weakest and "useless".They killed those people who "knocked" 70 years. And to meet the death properly, to show that the body still has the strength of spirit, there is life, the poor old people smiled. This smile, squeezed out of all your strength, is called sardonic.