SKIN TURNS BLUE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18961, 11 March 1936, Page 12

SKIN TURNS BLUE

RARE DISEASE U.S. DOCTORS ALARMED Ten little American girls and five little boys have >vithin the last year turned "blue. They have developed argyria, a rare discoloration of the skin resulting, in these 15 cases, from the use of solutions containing silver bought to cure colds. Medical circles in the United States are alarmed at a sudden increase in this hitherto rare complaint. Seventy cases have been recently reported. During the last five years the grand total of argyria sufferers has been more than doubled'.

According to medical authorities, the discoloration-of the skin is permanentAt present no treatment for the condition is known.

The human body can retain only so much silver. If more than the equivalent of seven grams of silver arspheu-. amino are taken, argyria develops. Slaty-blue blotches, first appear on tho face, hands, and the half-moons of the finger-nails as tho result of the silver in the system being chemically acted' upon by light. In chronic cases the whole body is affected and goes a silver-black color. “SILVER WIRE” HAIR Beyond tho unpleasant discoloration of the skin the affected persons are apparently quite, healthy and normal in every way. In England cases of argyria are extremely rare. Beyond a few persons who have contracted it from some occupational cause, such as the handling of silver preparations over many years, it is almost, unljeard of. An aiilhoiTTy consulted in London said that in 30 years lie had only come across two or three cases. In all but one case only tile hacks of the hands were affected. The other case, ho said, was outstanding. An elderly woman had for 20 years, on the advice of a quack, been taking pills of silver nitrate to cure her indigestion. Stic became so afflicted with argyria I hat her face was the color of a. photographic negative. The silver in her system had affected her hair, turning it almost into silver wires.