
This solution that suspends silver nanoparticles evenly throughout a colloidal base, was first developed in the early 20 th Century with the intention of providing a formula less risky than silver nitrate. There are also no known medical benefits of silver when it is ingested.īack to colloidal silver. It is now generally recognized in the medical community that the antimicrobial benefits of silver are far outweighed by empirically-proven medicines and treatments such as antibiotics.
#Colloidial silver blue skin skin
Throughout the 1960s, silver nitrate was used as an eye-drop in American infants to prevent conjunctivitis after birth but the practice quickly lost favor due to the salt’s unfortunate ability to burn skin and cause severe eye damage. Regardless of certain microscopic specifics, silver has been integrated into modern medicine as a topical treatment to dress wounds and coat equipment such as catheters, although its effectiveness in all areas is dubious, with studies indicating that silver’s healing properties are rarely effective enough to be statistically significant. A theory dubbed the “zombie effect” has been propossed in recent years whereby microbes soak up silver particles until they die.

Researchers are unsure whether silver’s antimicrobial properties are a result of the release of germicidal ions or a result of some feature of their nanoparticle form (or perhaps both). In isolated settings, ionized silver has occasionally been shown to be remarkably good at killing microbes in a mechanism that is still little understood by the medical community. Centuries later in the middle ages, monks promoted the use of silver nitrate (a salt formed by the reaction between silver and nitric acid) to effectively treat burns and ulcers. In AD 78, Pliny the Elder noted that the remnants of silver leftover from smelting aid in the recovery of wounds when combined with plaster. The use of silver as a medicinal aid has a long-established history and has been recognized for its anti-bacterial benefits since Roman times. Paltrow talking about the benefits of collodial silver on the Dr.

However, more than being a slightly inconvenient spectacle to airline staff, the use of colloidal silver is a genuinely worrying trend with some wild and debilitating side-effects. Ms Paltrow swears by its use, particularly when traveling, she claims to spray it liberally on her airline seat and place a drop under her tongue because it “really keeps viruses away”. Collodial silver has been adopted as a supplement to fight infections and keep diseases at bay, sold as a ‘natural antibiotic’ for those who find comfort in alternative medical treatment. Whether it’s been recommended by a friend, you’ve stumbled across it in the back aisle of your pharmacy, or perhaps you’ve heard Gwyneth Paltrow on Dr Oz espousing its benefits in all her Goop-y glory, the use of collodial silver is on the rise. You may have begun to encounter the use of colloidal silver as a supplement in recent years.
