A man who turned permanently blue after self-medicating for a
skin condition has died.
Paul Karason was 62 when he died Monday at Washington
hospital, NBC
Today reports. He was
admitted to the hospital after suffering a heart attack. He later
contracted pneumonia and had a severe
stroke.
Karason shot to Internet fame several years ago for the blue
color of his skin, which was a side effect using a silver compound
for more than a decade to treat a bad case of dermatitis on his
face.
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Paul Karason, pictured in
2008, talks exclusively with NBC News' 'Today' about turning
permanently blue after using colloidal silver
He led a very seclusive life until going onto NBC's Today
Show in 2008 to discuss his condition, known as argyria, which is
caused by the use of dietary supplements.
To try and counteract the coloring in his skin, Karason had
also begun self-administering doses of colloidal silver, which is a
suspension of silver in a liquid base.
His skin coloring earned him the nickname 'Papa Smurf,' which
his estranged widow said he welcomed when it came from
kids.
Paul Karason was 62 when he
died Monday at Washington hospital
'That was a nickname he didn’t appreciate, depending on who
said it,' she told Today. 'If it was a kid who ran up to him saying
"Papa Smurf," it would put a smile on his face. But if it was an
adult, well ….'
Silver has antibacterial properties and has been used to
fight infection for thousands of years.
But it went out of use when penicillin, which is far more
effective, was developed.
It continued to be used in some over-the-counter medicines
until 1999, when the FDA banned it because it causes argyria, which
is a result of the silver reacting with light the same way it does
in photography.
The silver collects in the skin and other organs and does not
dissipate.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2431165/Paul-Karason-Papa-Smurf-dies-Blue-man-suffers-heart-attack.html
