June 25 2017 by Kimberly Homan

DRINKING SILIVER NANOPARTICLES MAKES YOUR SKIN BLUE... IT'S TRUE

Paul Karasan and Rosemary Jacob both drank massive amounts of colloidal silver over years, causing a rare skin disorder call argyria.

Paul, pictured right, drank two glasses daily, equating to 750 mL or more. Rosemary was actually prescribed colloidal silver in the 1950’s as a treatment for allergies. Colloidal silver was sold as a drug then; today it is a dietary supplement and can be found in holistic health stores.

While silver is well known for its antibacterial properties, there is no evidence that drinking it daily will prevent infection or relieve allergies. In fact, permanent blue-gray skin is the only documented outcome from ingesting it. Luckily, argyria is largely a cosmetic condition with no other known medical side effects. However, Rosemary has been outspoken about the negative social impacts to her life. She suffered from breast cancer in her early 40’s and due to her gray-blue skin, the nurses in pre-op thought she was in cardiac arrest!

HOW SILVER CAUSES SKIN DISCOLORATION

The blue color comes from silver sulfide which deposits irreversibly in the dermis over time. On any given day, normal people will have 1 milligram of silver in their body. Argyria can occur when levels reach 4 grams. However, in the majority of cases, blue skin only becomes prevalent after total silver persists at 20 grams or more. Laser surgery has been used to help alleviate the discoloration in some rare cases. For most, however, the coloring is permanent and the only recommendation is removal of colloidal silver from their diet to prevent further discoloration and complications. If massive silver consumption continues and silver levels remain high, this could eventually lead to silver toxicity resulting in brain disorders and paralysis of the respiratory system. 

In short, while silver is biocompatible, anything in excess is harmful. As the ideology states “anything can be toxic given the right dose."

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