Danger Dust

In Short

• A patient, 84, was diagnosed with a mysterious condition called argyria

• The condition is caused by excessive silver build-up in the body

• It caues greying of skin, eyes and nails

An 84-year-old man left doctors confused when he entered a Hong Kong hospital for complications of urinary flow obstruction accompanied by signs of grey skin, eyes and nails.

This seemed like an unusual colour for the doctors as this hue appeared five years ago while he had been receiving treatment for a benign prostrate tumor. After several blood tests, it was revealed that the cause of this was - silver.

There's currently no medication or treatment to remove the slate-grey tone from the patient's skin, nails and eyes. However, as per the report, doctors are still investigating the cause behind the patient's silver build-up in his body, as he had no known exposure to the metal, even during his younger years as a waiter.

Argyria was earlier associated with artisans and miners, who used to work with silver.