Blue Skin Disorder

When you first see Paul Karason, you may think that he is putting up lots of make up to have the “look”, well, he is definitely not. The 57-year-pld Paul Karason has the appearance of every ordinary middle aged man, except for his distinct skin color. And yes, he is all blue, literally.

The-Blue-Man, Paul Karason. 

Karason’s condition is the result of silver poisoning, with the medical name Argyria. Karason has had bad arthritis problem on his shoulders, to ease the pain he started taking *colloidal silver. The arthritis was cured along with a side effect which gradually changed his skin color till what he looks like today. The color changed was so gradual that even Karason himself did not discover it in the first place.

Argyria is caused by excessive exposure to silver be it through contacts, ingestions or inhalation. Long term of exposure will result in the discoloration of skin. This symptom is very hard to treat once develops. Other than the blue skin, severe complications may be the consequences of continued exposure to silver, such as the paralysis of respiratory system which could be fatal.

Karason's case is induced by taking colloidal silver, there are people who are born with blue skin naturally!

They were the family of Fugates. The ancester of this blue skin family was Martin Fugate who settled near Kentucky in 1800, after several generations, his descendants still appear to have blue skin. This blue skin condition remained active for over 1 century.

Family of Fugates, 1800s.

The Fugates suffer from a kind of rare disorder where they have a missing enzyme to convert methemoglobin into haemoglobin, and the medical term for this disorder is called Methemoglobinemia. Methemoglobin (blue in color) is a form of haemoglobin that does not bind to oxygen, when exist in high level in a person, the body is deprived of adequate supply of oxygen. As a result, the skin turn blue or purplish in color.

For the Fugates, their heriditary methemoglobinemia is caused by a reccessive gene. With this gene, the body fails to produce a kind of enzyme named cytochrome b5-reductase, in which its role is to convert methemoglobin back to haemoglobin in red blood cells.

Methylene blue is one of the medicines that is used to treat this conditon. Another medicine that can be used to treat this disorder is ascorbic acid.

*Colloidal silver is a liquid suspension of microscopic particles of silver.