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Paul Karason shot to 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.
Silver, which has antibacterial properties, was used to fight infection until the 1930's when penicillin was found to be more effective.
Over the years he had self-medicated his face with doses of colloidal silver, a suspension of silver in a liquid base.
Paul, became famous in 2008 after an appearance on the 'Today' show, where he revealed the color change came courtesy trying to self-medicate a health condition.
He led a very seclusive life until going onto NBC's Today Show in 2008 to discuss his condition, known as argyria. Argyria or argyrosis (from Ancient Greek: ἄργυρος argyros silver) is a condition caused by inappropriate exposure to chemical compounds of the element silver, or to silver dust. The most dramatic symptom of argyria is that the skin turns blue or bluish-grey.
Paul who was also called "The Blue Man" used a homemade silver compound that was mostly a highly concentrated ionic silver solution. When he prepared the solution he believed he was making colloidal silver. To make the solution even more dangerous, he added salt to the brew and then used electrolysis to make a high concentration of silver chloride with large particles which is well known to cause argyria. He further applied the compound to his skin causing him to become an internal and external photographic plate. To finish himself off, he used a tanning bed to "fix" the silver in his body.