Stay Healthy

Paul Karason is living proof that certain medicines have dramatic side effects. Fourteen years ago Karason had a bad form of dermatitis that caused him to have swollen, red, and itchy skin. He heard that treating it with colloidal silver – which is a medicine that is made when silver is extracted from the metal – would help and it did. Unfortuanately it also managed to turn his skin a deep gray blue color.

Karason says he didnt’ notice it at first, but after a few years some people started asking questions. “The change was so gradual I didn’t perceive it. And people around me, it was so gradual that no one around me noticed. It wasn’t until A friend I hadn’t seen in months came by my parent’s place to see me and he asked me, well what did you do,” Karason explained.

Karason, who recently moved from Oregon to Madera, Calif., said it hasn’t been easy living with blue skin. “I do tend to avoid public places as much as I can,” he said. Karason made the move in hopes of fitting in a little better. “I hope that they just accept me,” he said, “And I think that will happen here. Where I was, I rather doubt it would have. This is different kind of community here.”

Karason’s girlfriend, Jackie Northrup, said she doesn’t even notice his skin color any more. “The only time now I really think about it or notice it is if we’re out in public and people start staring,” she said.

So far, Karason hasn’t sought any medical attention for his condition. When he was asked if he’s still drinking the colloidal silver, he said yes, but much less.