Papa Smurf?

Paul Karason was fair skinned and freckled 14 years ago — before he developed a bad case of dermatitis caused by stress.

When it got so bad that the skin on his face began to peel and crack he started using a substance called colloidal silver. The product is reportedly made by extracting silver from metal into water with an electrical current and it is then taken as a drink.

But the 57-year-old said drinking the potion did not cause his skin to discolor — the change in hue happened when he rubbed the potion directly onto his face.

"The change was so gradual that I didn't perceive it and other people around me likewise," he said. "It wasn't until a friend I hadn't seen in several months came by my parents' place to see me and he asked me 'What did you do?'"

His girlfriend, Jackie Northup, added: "The only time now I really think about it or notice it is if we're out in public and people start staring."

Karason has moved from Oregon to California hoping to find acceptance and escape Gargamel…but said: "I do tend to avoid public places as much as I can."