User Claims Supplements Turned Skin Silver

June 9, 2004 -- — It's an old elixir in new packaging: silver.

People seeking alterative remedies are buying liquid silver dietary supplements in health food stores or surfing the Web.

"If they have some kind of bacterial infection and they don't want to take an antibiotic, they'll use silver," according to Richard, the owner of two health food stores in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Richard sells a line of products from a company called Invision and says if his customers did not want the product he wouldn't stock it. He says he also uses it himself and has never seen anyone have problems with it.

Dhyana Coburn is another who believes liquid silver can help fight some illnesses. She makes silver supplement for her own personal use and wrote a book touting the merits of the metal.

"Personally, I've used it to heal conjunctivitis and bronchitis," Coburn maintains.

Fueled by word of mouth and word on the Web, silver mixtures are part of the almost $20 billion that Americans spent on dietary supplements last year.

But there are problems with silver supplements.

Silver May Cause a Rare Skin Condition

"It has never been proven to work," notes Dr. Bruce Bouts, an internist in Findlay, Ohio.

Even worse, some users, like Rosemary Jacobs and Arline Gilliam, say their skin has actually turned a silvery color after ingesting it.

"I was convinced that it was supposed to be really good for me," Gilliam recalls. "I turned silver in 2002. It is devastating. I notice people staring at me all the time."

Jacobs and Gilliam suffer from a rare condition called argyria, which causes sufferers' skin to turn gray or bluish from ingesting silver.

Bouts has seen five argyria patients. He warns that those who ingest silver may be taking a risk without any potential health benefit.

"It won't help you keep healthy, ward off disease, prevent the common cold, find Osama bin Laden," he comments.