Argyria is a benign
skin disease characterized by blue to slate-grey discoloration that is caused by deposition of
silver granules in the skin and/or mucus membranes as a result of long-term ingestion of ionized
silver solutions or exposure to airborne
silver particles. The skin discoloration can be generalized or localized and is exacerbated by sunlight. The skin discoloration is usually permanent, and until recently, there has been no effective treatment for
argyria. Over the past 6 years, a number of case reports and one case series have described cases of
argyria that were successfully treated with a 1064 nm Q-switched (QS)
neodymium-doped
yttrium aluminium garnet (
Nd:YAG) laser; however, a review of these studies has never been reported in the dermatologic literature. To review the use of the 1064 nm QS
Nd:YAG laser for the treatment of
argyria. A search of the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Database and the SCOPUS Database was performed to find articles that detailed the treatment of
argyria with 1064 nm QS
Nd:YAG laser. Six articles were selected for inclusion in this review. Each article was reviewed and summarized in a table. A 1064 nm QS
Nd:YAG laser offers a novel and effective treatment for
argyria. A systematic review of the dermatologic literature revealed a limited number of case reports and case series using this treatment. However, the results gleaned by the authors from the literature review provide important information to the clinician. For patients with
argyria, a single pass of the 1064 nm QS
Nd:YAG laser offers immediate, effective and sustained pigment clearing without any
long-term adverse effects.