Chrysiasis is a dermatological condition induced by the

parenteral A route of administration in pharmacology and toxicology is the way by which a drug, fluid, poison, or other substance is taken into the body. Routes of administration are generally classified by the location at which the substance is applied. ...

administration of

gold salts Gold-containing drugs are pharmaceuticals that contain gold. Sometimes these species are referred to as "gold salts". "Chrysotherapy" and "aurotherapy" are the applications of gold compounds to medicine. Research on the medicinal effects of g ...

, usually for the treatment of

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...

.James, William; Berger, Timothy; Elston, Dirk (2005). ''Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology''. (10th ed.). Saunders. . Such treatment has been superseded as the best practice for treating the disease because of "numerous side effects and monitoring requirements, their limited efficacy, and very slow onset of action". Similar to

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

, a gold preparation used

ly for a long period may rarely produce a permanent skin

pigmentation A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compo ...

– especially if the skin is exposed to sunlight or artificial

ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...

radiation. The skin's pigmentation (in this condition) has been described as uniformly gray, grayish purple, slate gray, or grayish blue, and is usually limited to exposed portions of the body. It may involve the conjunctivae over the

sclera The sclera, also known as the white of the eye or, in older literature, as the tunica albuginea oculi, is the opaque, fibrous, protective, outer layer of the human eye containing mainly collagen and some crucial elastic fiber. In humans, and som ...

s but usually not the

oral mucosa The oral mucosa is the mucous membrane lining the inside of the mouth. It comprises stratified squamous epithelium, termed "oral epithelium", and an underlying connective tissue termed ''lamina propria''. The oral cavity has sometimes been descri ...

. Location of pigment predominantly in the upper

dermis The dermis or corium is a layer of skin between the epidermis (with which it makes up the cutis) and subcutaneous tissues, that primarily consists of dense irregular connective tissue and cushions the body from stress and strain. It is divided i ...

leads to the blue component of skin color through the scattering phenomenon. It is much less likely to be deposited in the nails and hair. Chrysiasis was said to have been much more common when medicines containing traces of gold were used for treatment of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

(commonplace forms of treatment nearly fifty years ago). Treatments containing gold traces were also used to treat cases of

– but because the dose used for tuberculosis was higher than for

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

, it has not afflicted many subscribing to such treatments. Gold can be identified in the skin chemically by

light microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...

, and spectroscopy. There is no way to reverse or treat chrysiasis.

Notes

References

* Jeghers - New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 231: 122 & 181, 1944 * Scamberg - "Chrysoderma - A permanent gold staining of the skin". Archives of Dermatology & Syphilis, Vol. 18. 862, 1928 * The University of Massachusetts Online Article on Skin Pigmentation Disorder

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External links

{{Pigmentation disorders Gold Disturbances of human pigmentation

See also

Notes

References