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Odd Human Skin Pigmentation (Blue; Purple; Etc.)

Amoradala2 said:
Some border Morris dancers, after years of criticism for blacking their faces have taken to ‘blueing’ their faces,
thus avoiding the accusation of racism whilst retaining the tradition of disguising their identity with paint.
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Interesting, round here they have brushes and are chimney sweeps, so is it that the chimney sweep is a new wheeze to preempt 'black face' accusations or were they always chimney sweeps and the border Morris dancers are caving in to uninformed PC?
 
EnolaGaia said:
There's another, simpler, explanation ... Both men were exhibiting cyanosis - a blue-ish / purple-ish cast to the skin commonly caused by poor circulation, pulmonary insufficiency, heart defects, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and / or chronic usage or overdosing with certain drugs (especially opioids and narcotics).

Both men were estimated to be in their 50's - a prime age to be exhibiting pulmonary problems.

Both were described as wearing jackets. This implies colder weather, which would reduce blood flow at the extremities (face and hands) which were the only areas of skin visible.
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I was born with a hole in the heart and as a kid, if I got too cold (esp if going swimming, for some reason) I would go an interesting shade of blue. It was distinctly blue not purple - although I dunno how typical that is of people with heart defects. It spontaneously healed when I was about 30 so I haven't gone blue for years.:cool:

ETA: And of course, in York we have Purple Man who raises money for charity:

https://www.yorkmix.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/york-meeting-place-purpleman.jpg
 
Heh, the most interesting thing I noticed in the wikipedia article is that in the genetic version, even for someone with the full-on form... Vitamin C deficiency makes it far more noticeable, and adequate Vitamin C seems to be why that one guy in the 70s barely had it visible.
 
marhawkman said:
Heh, the most interesting thing I noticed in the wikipedia article is that in the genetic version, even for someone with the full-on form... Vitamin C deficiency makes it far more noticeable, and adequate Vitamin C seems to be why that one guy in the 70s barely had it visible.
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I've known someone with this and it gets a bit better but it's taken 15 years or so - that colloidal poisoning. The first time I met this person I was reaching for the phone to call an ambulance as I thought they were dying.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
I've known someone with this and it gets a bit better but it's taken 15 years or so - that colloidal poisoning.
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Looking up the colloidal silver on Wikipedia suggests that the issue is that your body doesn't secrete it properly and it builds up in your body. It collects in your skin and collects in a skin layer that makes it visible to people looking at you from the outside.
 
Other skin pigmentation oddities include:

Bismuthia
Bismuthia is a rare dermatological condition that results from the prolonged use of bismuth.
Much more rarely than with silver, bismuth may produce a generalized persistent skin discoloration resembling argyria.

Carotenodermia
Carotenosis is a benign and reversible medical condition where an excess of dietary carotenoids results in orange discoloration of the outermost skin layer.

Chrysiasis
Chrysiasis is a dermatological condition induced by the parenteral administration of gold salts ... Similar to silver, 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 radiation.
 
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