Saturday 28 August 2010

Silver Lady of Long Island

Argyria occurs in people who ingest or inhale silver in large quantities over a long period (several months to many years).
Since at least the early part of the 20th century, doctors have known that silver or silver compounds can cause some areas of the skin and other body tissues to irreversibly turn gray or blue-gray.


Rosemary Jacobs ( known as the Silver Lady of Long Island ), used nose drops that her Doctor prescribed that contained colloidal silver in 1953 when she was 11 years old. She has undergone dermabrasion ( removal of the upper layers of skin ) to help lighten the appearance of her complexion.  


This is how Rosemary appears today, some six decades later.
And to give you some idea of just how different the change in skin tone can be, see the photo below and compare the colour of the doctors hand as he examines an elderly man with this condition.

 
   

People who work in factories that manufacture silver can also breathe in silver or its compounds. In the past, some of these workers have become argyric. Historically, colloidal silver, a liquid suspension of microscopic silver particles, was also used as an internal medication to treat a variety of diseases before the develpoment of modern antibiotics. In the 1940s they were discontinued due to the concern about argyria and other side effects of silver products.

This post has been published in an attempt to educate and raise awareness and is not intended to cause offence.

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