Mysterious silver poisoning turned an 84-year-old gray for good

Doctors at Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong were at a loss after examining an 84-year-old man admitted for complications relating to an enlarged prostate. But medical experts weren’t perplexed by his prostate issues—they were surprised at the patient’s unnaturally silver skin, fingernails, and even whites of his eyes.

A subsequent skin biopsy revealed gray granules in the man’s blood vessels, sweat gland membranes, hair follicles, and skin fibers. Further blood tests confirmed the hospital staff’s suspicion: a silver concentration of 423 nmol/L, over 40 times the normal amount. The octogenarian was suffering from a rare case of generalized argyria, an oftenpermanent condition caused by a buildup of silver in the body.

As Ars Technica explains, the New England Journal of Medicine’s recent case report, argyria occurs after a person ingests large quantities of silver over a prolonged period, during which time the metal particulates travel in their ionic form into the bloodstream. Eventually, the silver winds up in the tissues of the muscles, organs, skin, and possibly even the brain.

Ingesting the silver isn’t noticeable on its own. But after exposure to ultraviolet light (something that happens everyday thanks to the Sun), the metal ions turn into atomic silver and begin to oxidize into silver selenide and silver sulfide. This is what gives argyria patients their telltale blue-gray coloration. Their skin may darken even further thanks to silver’s tendency to stimulate melanin production.

Alternative medicine practitioners (and at least one cult) have long promoted taking doses of silver, either in capsule form or suspended in liquid known as “colloidal silver.” Doctors even sometimes prescribed it prior to the arrival of antibiotics. But as it stands today, there is no reliable evidence supporting the ingestion of silver to treat any health condition. If anything, too much silver can poison you and cause irreparable harm to your liver, kidneys, and bone marrow. In some cases, it can kill you.

In the case of the octogenarian in Hong Kong, however, the cause of his argyria remains a mystery. He reportedly only took the finasteride prescribed to him by doctors for his prostate, and did not admit to regularly or purposely ingesting silver. And because he spent a career waiting tables, job-related exposure seemed unlikely, as well. No one else in his apartment building displayed similar symptoms, either. Doctors eventually discharged the mysteriously silver man from the facility with a referral for additional toxicological tests.

But whether or not anyone ever gets to the bottom of his malady, at least let it serve as a valuable reminder to never take silver home remedies.