Real life "Papa smurf" dies
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Man who found Internet fame when his skin turned permanently blue dies after suffering a heart attack
- Paul Karason was 62 when he died Monday at Washington hospital
- He was admitted to the hospital after suffering a heart attack. He later contracted pneumonia and had a severe stroke
- Karason shot to Internet fame several years ago for the blue color of his skin, which was a side effect using a silver compound for more than a decade to treat a bad case of dermatitis on his face
A man who turned permanently blue after self-medicating for a skin condition has died.
Paul Karason was 62 when he died Monday at Washington hospital, NBC Today reports. He was admitted to the hospital after suffering a heart attack. He later contracted pneumonia and had a severe stroke.
Karason shot to Internet fame several years ago for the blue color of his skin, which was a side effect using a silver compound for more than a decade to treat a bad case of dermatitis on his face.
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Paul Karason, pictured in 2008, talks exclusively with NBC News' 'Today' about turning permanently blue after using colloidal silver
He led a very seclusive life until going onto NBC's Today Show in 2008 to discuss his condition, known as argyria, which is caused by the use of dietary supplements.
To try and counteract the coloring in his skin, Karason had also begun self-administering doses of colloidal silver, which is a suspension of silver in a liquid base.
His skin coloring earned him the nickname 'Papa Smurf,' which his estranged widow said he welcomed when it came from kids.
Paul Karason was 62 when he died Monday at Washington hospital
'That was a nickname he didn’t appreciate, depending on who said it,' she told Today. 'If it was a kid who ran up to him saying "Papa Smurf," it would put a smile on his face. But if it was an adult, well ….'
Silver has antibacterial properties and has been used to fight infection for thousands of years.But it went out of use when penicillin, which is far more effective, was developed.
It continued to be used in some over-the-counter medicines until 1999, when the FDA banned it because it causes argyria, which is a result of the silver reacting with light the same way it does in photography.
The silver collects in the skin and other organs and does not dissipate.
