Paul Karason, Real-life 'Blue Man,' Dies at 62 [View all]

Real-life 'Blue Man' dies after heart attack, stroke

The man who shot to Internet fame several years ago after appearing on TODAY to discuss a condition that permanently turned his skin a deep blue has died.

Paul Karason was 62 when he passed away Monday in a Washington hospital, where he was admitted last week after suffering a heart attack. He also had pneumonia and later suffered a severe stroke, his estranged wife, Jo Anna Karason, said Tuesday.



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Karason began using a silver preparation to treat a bad case of dermatitis that had broken out on his face. He took the silver in colloidal form that he produced himself, using electrolysis.

Silver has antibacterial properties and has been used to fight infection for thousands of years. But it went out of use when the far more effective penicillin was developed in the 1930s.

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.

...http://www.today.com/health/real-life-blue-man-dies-after-heart-attack-stroke-4B11243410