It is usual for people to get tanned because of the sun, but have you ever seen someone turning grey? A man in Hong Kong developed an ashen complexion because of his exposure to silver. The 84-year-old in Hong Kong was admitted to the hospital after his hue underwent this surprising change.

The man's skin, face, fingernail, and even the white of his eyes appeared silvery. After performing the skin biopsy, the doctors found granules in the fibers of the skin, blood vessels, sweat gland membranes, and hair follicles. Following this a complete check-up and a blood test revealed that he had a concentration of the metal silver in his serum (423 nmol/L) which is 40 times the normal level in humans which is less than 10 nmol/L. The case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine( https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2410226?logout=true).

He was diagnosed with a rare case of argyria , a buildup of silver in tissues causing permanent grey discolouration. This happens when someone accidentally consumes silver particles and the metal from the gut dissolves into the bloodstream in its ionic form. The silver slowly deposits throughout the body tissues in the skin, heart, muscles, lungs, liver, spleen, and kidney. It is also mentioned that through the bloodstream, silver might also settle in the human brain.

While the human body might not react immediately, it might even take years to realise that you had by mistake consumed silver. The notable grey face appears only when the tissues are exposed to sunlight as the ions in the metal undergo photoreduction with UV exposure.

When this happens, using Chelation therapy which is generally done to remove metals from the body can be tried on patients, however in cases of argyria it has been proven ineffective and few case studies support this as proof.

But did the man really eat silver?

Not really. One need not consume silver directly to get this condition, but multiple substances used on a daily basis have a component of silver in them that can also cause this peculiar issue. However, argyria is considered to be a case of hokum therapies that are promoted by naturopaths.

Earlier, in the medical field, before antibiotics were discovered, silver was used to treat open wounds. However, the 84-year-old man reported only taking his medicine Finasteride which is used to treat enlarged prostate. The man also revealed that he did not have any exposure to silver and following his discharge, the hospital tried to further find the reason and his exposure to silver, but it remained unidentified.

What is Argyria?

Argyria is a rare cosmetic condition that occurs because of the accumulation of silver particles in the body. The condition is a result of prolonged exposure to silver or silver compounds, often through occupational exposure, dietary supplements, medications, or topical treatments containing silver.

With Argyria, your skin turns bluish-grey when exposed to the sun and even the white of your eyes turns grey. The discoloration caused by silver is usually permanent. However, it has still not been found if this rare skin condition is harmful to human health as no cases have been registered that affected internal organs.

There is no known cure for Argyria, however skin laser treatments show a reduction in skin discolouration.