Colloidal Silver: It'll Make You Blue - Literally.

Have you ever heard of Colloidal Silver? Well, fourteen years ago, a Mr. Paul Karason heard for the first time about this so-called ‘miracle drug’; a cure-all product, if you will. Karason began using this product after being diagnosed with dermatitis, a condition that reddened and swelled his skin.

Unfortunately, at the time that Karason began to use this product, the drug hadn’t undergone the rigorous safety and efficacy testing required of pharmaceuticals that would have proved that there was no therapeutic benefit to the drug. Nine years ago, in August of 1999, the Food and Drug administration passed a law that banned the ability to claim medical benefits from the use of Colloidal Silver in advertisements.

By the time the law was passed, Karason had been using the substance for five years; he drank it in a solution with water and rubbed it on his skin. The FDA does not recommend either of the uses, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to use Colloidal Silver on and off for an excess of fourteen years.

However, Karason took it on his own, he said. “I did it all on my own. Originally, I just saw an ad for a colloidal silver generator in a magazine and the picture stuck in my head like a song might stick in your head. I had a friend who had severe petroleum poisoning, and I heard colloidal silver was helpful for that, and that’s how I started”.

What was most ironic about this situation is that Karason validated the fact that the silver he was taking did not cure his dermatitis. Why, then, did he continue to take it, even knowing it was dangerous?

“Because of some profound benefits that I had received from using it, like no more acid reflux, no more sinus troubles; my arthritis went away”, he said.

Although his skin began to change color after a short amount of time, Karason says that the change was so slow that he hadn’t even noticed it.

His condition, along with that of a few others, is called Argyria. It occurs when sunlight interacts with silver deposited in the skin, in the same way that silver particles in photographic film darken when exposed to sunlight. It can occur both through ingestion of silver, or through topical application of silver to the skin, both of which are ways Karason used Colloidal Silver.

Karason has yet to seek professional help about this reaction to Colloidal Silver, even at the expense of a suggestion by Dr. Oz, via the daytime talk show Oprah, which he was featured in. He says, however, that- minus a decrease in his social activity, he feels just fine.

"I do tend to avoid public places as much as I can", he said, “I just hope they [people] accept me”.