For hematologists and biophysicists. The abstract contains materials from work performed at the All-Russian Research Institute of Optical and Physical Measurements in the field of holographic microinterferometry, television microscopy and laser nephelometry of erythrocytes. The work was carried out at the clinical base of the Second Moscow Regional State Medical Institute named after N.I. Pirogov, in Children's Clinical Hospital No. 1. Based on research results, a model of the development of red blood cells from a young cell, a reticulocyte, to the utilization of old cells in the spleen was proposed. A connection is shown between changes in cell shape caused by fragmentation of the erythrocyte membrane and the transition from a disk to a sphere. Spherulization as a marker of cell weakening and a signal for its disposal. The independence of the transition from disk to sphere from the nature of the acting factors is shown. This suggests the presence of a single mechanism for the utilization of weakened cells, regardless of the nature of the disorders. In reflected laser light, vibrations of the surface of the erythrocyte membrane were recorded for the first time, which certainly affects the rheological properties of the cells.