Chrysiasis is a dermatological condition induced by the parenteral 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 synovial joint, joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and h ...

.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 Such treatment has been superseded as the best practice for treating the disease because of "numerous side effects and monitoring requirements, their limited efficacy, and very slow onset of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; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, a gold preparation used parenterally for a long period may rarely produce a permanent skin pigmentation – especially if the skin is exposed to sunlight or artificial

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

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 eye containing mainly collagen and some crucial elastic fiber. In the development of t ...

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 des ...

. Location of pigment predominantly in the upper

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

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), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

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