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Home » Topics A–Z » Chrysiasis
Author: Vanessa Ngan, Staff Writer, 2005. Updated by A/Prof Amanda Oakley, Dermatologist, Hamilton, New Zealand. January 2018.
Chrysiasis is a condition characterised by blue-grey to greyish-purple staining of the skin caused by the deposition of gold particles in connective tissue (the deep layers of skin).
The name chrysiasis is derived from chrysos and chrysanthos, a Greek word meaning “golden flower”.
The source of the gold is usually from prolonged use of intravenous, intramuscular or oral gold therapy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Chrysiasis is rarely seen today as gold is rarely used for arthritis. In the early 20th century, high doses of gold were also used for the treatment of tuberculosis.
Chrysiasis may still occur in people that consume gold for some reason.
Localised blue-grey pigmentation due to chrysiasis has been rarely reported at the site of Q-Switched laser treatment in patients that had previously — even decades earlier — been treated with gold salts.
Chrysiasis may develop after a few months of gold treatment or after a long latent period.
Greyish-blue pigmentation may also be due to silver deposition, argyria.
Drug-induced pigmentation due to minocycline, antimalarials and amiodarone can be a similar colour to chrysiasis.
Chrysiasis is a clinical diagnosis in a patient known to have been treated with gold salts, especially if this was for a prolonged period. On skin biopsy, light microscopy reveals aggregates of gold in the reticular and papillary dermis, in a predominantly perivascular distribution. The granules of deposited gold are generally larger and more irregular than those of sliver.
Chrysiasis is irreversible and basically untreatable.
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