There is a strange story behind a man who permanently turned himself blue after suffering a bizarre side-effect.
It turns out that there is a condition that can be triggered from taking dietary supplements and it can cause a person’s skin to change to blue.
It’s officially known as argyria and, according to WebMD, this permanent pigmental mutation happens when silver builds up in the body over an extended period of time.
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As a result, the skin, eyes, nails, gums, and even internal organs give off a blue-gray tinge.
Symptoms usually begin in the mouth after a few months or years of silver buildup.
And one man became well known for his experience with the condition.
Paul Karason was often referred to as ‘Papa Smurf’ on the internet due to his blue skin which was caused after he gravitated to a commercial for the so-called rejuvenating ‘magic’ of colloidal silver.
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Dealing with a bad case of dermatitis on his face, Karason produced the mixture himself via electrolysis, which dissolved in water.
It’s believed that he ended up drinking around 10 ounces every single day for at least a decade.
Interviewed by ABC News back in 2008, Karason claimed he hadn’t even noticed his skin’s transformation until an old friend stopped by his Oregon home for a visit.
He recalled: “He looks at me and he says, ‘what have you got on your face?’, ‘I don’t have anything on my face!’
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“He says, ‘well, it looks like you’ve got camouflage makeup on or something’. And by golly, he came in and he was very fair-skinned, as I used to be. And that’s when it hit me.”
What he had felt, though, were positive changes in his health.
“The acid reflux problem I'd been having just went away completely,” said Karason. “I had arthritis in my shoulders so bad I couldn't pull a T-shirt off. And the next thing I knew, it was just gone.”
Paul claimed ‘there’s not the slightest doubt in my mind’ that this was all down to the colloidal silver product.
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Speaking to TODAY, Karason’s wife, Jo Anna Karason, suggested her husband was never quite sold on his ‘Papa Smurf’ nickname.
“That was a nickname he didn’t appreciate, depending on who said it,” Jo Anna said. “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…”
In his final years, regular smoker Paul underwent a triple bypass and rarely left the house.
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“He has been too ill to work for a while,” noted Jo Anna, before explaining how he’d spent a great deal of time just reading historical books and watching the History Channel.
“He didn’t like to go out in public much - only when he thought he needed to, like to go to the bank or to pick up tobacco.”