Off to see the Wizard
Unless you’re planning to audition for your local production of “The Wizard of Oz” don’t use Coldargan (0·85 mg silver protein, 0·68 mg ephedrine levulinate, 0·24 mg sodium levulinate, and 0·075 mg calcium levulinate per drop) topical vascoconstrictor for your runny nose!
This unfortunate chap developed generalized argyrosis due to the formation of silver deposits in his skin after using at least bottle of Coldargan every week for four years.
Due to its rarity argyrosis (also known as argyrism or argyria) is often misdiagnosed. It is essentially incurable.
Clinical and histological appearance of argyrosis. Obvious discolouration (top) caused by intradermal silver deposits (bottom). Source: Tomi NS, et al (2004)
References
- Tomi NS, Kränke B, Aberer W. A silver man. Lancet. 2004 Feb 14;363(9408):532 [The Lancet]
- Dermnet NZ: Argyria
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at the Alfred ICU in Melbourne. He is also a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University. He is a co-founder of the Australia and New Zealand Clinician Educator Network (ANZCEN) and is the Lead for the ANZCEN Clinician Educator Incubator programme. He is on the Board of Directors for the Intensive Care Foundation and is a First Part Examiner for the College of Intensive Care Medicine. He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives.
After finishing his medical degree at the University of Auckland, he continued post-graduate training in New Zealand as well as Australia’s Northern Territory, Perth and Melbourne. He has completed fellowship training in both intensive care medicine and emergency medicine, as well as post-graduate training in biochemistry, clinical toxicology, clinical epidemiology, and health professional education.
He is actively involved in in using translational simulation to improve patient care and the design of processes and systems at Alfred Health. He coordinates the Alfred ICU’s education and simulation programmes and runs the unit’s education website, INTENSIVE. He created the ‘Critically Ill Airway’ course and teaches on numerous courses around the world. He is one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) and is co-creator of litfl.com, the RAGE podcast, the Resuscitology course, and the SMACC conference.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Twitter, he is @precordialthump.
| INTENSIVE | RAGE | Resuscitology | SMACC