Images of a man who turned completely blue after self-medicating various health conditions have resurfaced several years after he originally became famous.
Suffering from a variety of conditions including dermatitis, Paul Karason consumed a mixture of silver compounds in an effort to prevent his skin from flaking.
According to a 2008 Inside Edition episode, the Washington native he also began rubbing the mixture onto his skin, which gave him argyria, a rare medical syndrome caused by silver poisoning from dietary supplements.
Paul, who became known as ‘Blue Man’ and ‘Papa Smurf’ because of his blue-tinged skin, began drinking the homemade colloidal silver mix after reading an ad in a new age magazine that said it might promote health and rejuvenation. claims that are not substantiated.
The mixture featuring tiny silver ions and nanoparticles suspended in liquid caused Paul’s skin to completely change color, something he said he didn’t notice until a friend pointed it out.
Paul Karason (pictured while appearing on the TODAY show in 2008) turned blue after self-medicating with silver supplements.
‘TO A friend who hadn’t seen me in a long time came over and asked what I had done to myself,” Paul, who was born with fair skin and red hair, told Inside Edition.
He added that having blue skin offered some advantages, including never getting sunburned.
However, Paul noted, he did not enjoy the looks he received as a result of looking different from other people.
But overall, when asked if he could go back to the way he used to be, Paul said he really didn’t know.
In 2008, he appeared on the TODAY show alongside his then-girlfriend Jackie Northrup, who opened up about his reaction to being called ‘Papa Smurf’.
She said: “That was a nickname I didn’t appreciate, depending on who said it.”
‘If it was a kid running up to him saying “Papa Smurf” it would put a smile on his face. But if he was an adult, well…’
Several years after initially becoming known, Paul’s personal life suffered a setback.
Sadly, Paul’s life was turned upside down after he suffered from a variety of health issues and struggled to find work, which led to him losing his home and moving to a homeless shelter in 2012.
In 2013, Paul Karason (pictured in 2008) died while receiving treatment for pneumonia at a Washington hospital, after suffering a heart attack.
He struggled to find work, broke up with his fiancée, and suffered various health crises, including prostate cancer and heart problems.
After losing his home, in 2012, Paul was forced to move from Madeira, California, to return to his hometown of Bellington, Washington, and move into a homeless shelter.
However, after returning home, he was soon reunited with a school friend, Jo Anna Elkins, and the couple, who would later marry, moved in together.
In September 2013, Paul Karason died at age 62 at a Washington hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia after suffering a heart attack.
His then-wife, Jo Anna Karason, told the press that he, too, had suffered a stroke.
Colloidal silver is a suspension of silver in a liquid base, in Paul’s case, distilled water.
Silver has antibacterial properties and has been used to fight infections for thousands of years.
But it stopped being used when penicillin was developed, which is much more effective.
It continued to be used in some over-the-counter medications until 1999, when the FDA banned it because it causes argyria, which is the result of silver reacting with light in the same way it does in photography.
