Does Colloidal Silver Turn Skin Blue

What Is Argyria?

Argyria is a rare skin condition that can happen if silver builds up in your torso over a long fourth dimension.

It can turn your skin, eyes, internal organs, nails, and gums a blue-gray color, especially in areas of your body exposed to sunlight. That change in your pare color is permanent.

Symptoms

argyria vs normal hand color If you have argyria, the symptoms may first in your oral cavity, with your gums turning grey-brown. Your peel may start to plough slate-gray, metallic, or blue-greyness. This could happen later on a few months or years, depending on how much silver you are exposed to. It may only impact i expanse of skin, or information technology could change the appearance of all your skin.

The discoloration may stand out near on your forehead, olfactory organ, easily, and other areas that are exposed to the sun.

The whites of your eyes and nail beds may as well turn blueish-greyness.

Some people's internal organs in their abdomen -- such as the spleen, liver, and intestines -- take on a bluish color, merely yous wouldn't know this unless you had surgery.

Causes

You might become argyria if you have dietary supplements that contain silver, use medication such as eyedrops or nose sprays that contain silverish, or work where silverish particles are in the air.

When you consume silver, information technology corrodes in your stomach acrid and turns into silver table salt, which can travel through your bloodstream and end upwardly in your skin. When exposed to sunlight, the silvery salt turns back to silver and colors your skin blueish. This is similar to the procedure argent goes through when used in blackness-and-white photography.

Colloidal silverish. This dietary supplement can cause argyria. It consists of tiny silverish particles in a liquid. Makers of these products may merits they boost your immune system and can care for cancer, HIV and AIDS, shingles, herpes, and eye problems, but scientific enquiry doesn't back up that.

The FDA says over-the-counter drugs and supplements containing colloidal silverish or silver salts aren't safe and effective. Silver has no known benefits when swallowed and isn't essential to the human torso.

Some drugs. If you take medication that contains silver for a long fourth dimension, it tin crusade argyria. Luckily, those medicines aren't used as much equally they used to exist. The post-obit uses of silverish are amidst those that have been shown to cause argyria:

Silverish nitrate used to care for mucilage haemorrhage and varicose veins
Silverish sulfadiazine cream used to foreclose infection in wounds and burns
Silver acetate used in lozenges and other products to help quit smoking
Colloidal silvery poly peptide used in eyedrops

On the job. People who piece of work with silver for a long fourth dimension can become argyria. If you work in argent mining, processing, or manufacturing, or another field that brings you into regular contact with silver, you may breathe in silver particles or they may become lodged in your skin, causing argyria.

Other causes. It's possible that some people'due south genes make them more likely to become argyria.

There have been rare cases of argyria acquired by silver-coated acupuncture needles, silver earrings, and dental pieces. But that's not likely to happen.

Diagnosis

If your doctor thinks you may have argyria, you'll get a physical test and reply questions about your history and medications. Tell your medico nigh any medications, dietary supplements, or treatments y'all've used that contain silver, and whatever other exposure to silver.

Your doctor may also do a skin biopsy -- taking a small-scale amount of your skin for testing -- to ostend whether yous accept argyria.

Handling

The pare discoloration that argyria causes won't go away. But sunscreen can help prevent the color from darkening. Makeup can aid hide the furnishings of argyria on your pare.

Using a v% hydroquinone treatment on your skin may curb the amount of silver in your skin and make information technology look amend.

Laser therapy may also help treat argyria.

Prevention

You lot tin prevent argyria by limiting your use of medications that contain silver and avoiding dietary supplements that contain silver.

If you're exposed to argent or silver dust at work, check that your workplace follows the exposure limits set by the regime. The Occupational Safe and Wellness Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Assistants (MSHA) enforce a limit of 0.01 mg/m³ for metallic and soluble silver compounds.