# Black feet on white guy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617 "2002-11-30T08:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ookpik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c68b51/32.png) [@ookpik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ookpik)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617/1 "2002-11-30T08:26:53Z")
A few years ago, a friend of mine went through a rather bizarre phenomenon, which to date, has never been accurately explained. Completely out of the blue, and without suffering any trauma, both of his feet, from the ankles to his toes turned black. Not tanned or bruised, but dark black. There was no pain associated with this, but naturally he was pretty concerned. He got in line at his local hospital emergency room, and promptly became a minor celebrity among the attending physicians. A diagnosis of the problem never materialized. After getting the same results at three different hospitals, he took a friends advice and went to see a herbalist? or homeopath? I’m not sure about the correct designation, but this person suggested he soak his feet in plain yogurt daily for a certain number of days. As weird as this solution sounded, he really didn’t have any other options from the “established” medical community and considering the simplicity, he opted to give it a try. It worked. Within a week the problem was solved. He was obviously pleased, noticed no side-effects and has never had a re-occurance of the problem, but to this day, we both wonder just what the hell that was all about! Any ideas? Thanks, Ookpik ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617/2 "2002-11-30T09:02:07Z")
Yuck! You’ve really put me off my yogurt now… ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617/3 "2002-11-30T09:09:57Z")
Is there any documentation about this? ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617/4 "2002-11-30T13:41:23Z")
Without any other information available, I have to wonder if it wasn’t simply a cosmetic effect from something in/on his socks. Did he wash his socks in something strange? Or did he have a new pair of black socks that he hadn’t washed before he wore them (causing resdual dye to stain his skin)? No other symptoms at all? Weird! ---
**Author:** ![DrLiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DrLiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLiver)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617/5 "2002-12-01T03:08:17Z")
This is a guess, but, I know there is a certain chemical substance that makes the sking brown (not black). I really can’t remember the name but I know we had an experiment in highschool with that thing and aparently, the skin stays brown quiet some time. Any chemists would know what I’m talking about… ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617/6 "2002-12-01T03:31:58Z")
Perhaps you’re thinking of silver nitrate? We use it in chemistry and we have to be very careful not to get it on our skin becuase it kills skin cells and leaves the skin blackish. (I don’t know how one would manage to soak their feet in silver nitrate, though. It’s kind of epensive.) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617/7 "2002-12-01T03:55:00Z")
I wouldn’t think that the doctors would have thought black feet were unheard of. Many years ago my father was taking shower and noted that his feet had suddenly turned black. He went to his doctor who immediately ran some blood tests and discovered that in addition to the black feet he was anemic. This led quickly to a cancer diagnosis and none of the doctors who were ultimately involved was a bit astonished at the black feet which resulted from internal bleeding settling there. ---
**Author:** ![ookpik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c68b51/32.png) [@ookpik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ookpik)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-feet-on-white-guy/139617/8 "2002-12-04T05:50:33Z")
Thanks for the replies folks! I was away for a while and could not get back to this till now. The dye from socks theory is good, except that this occured during the summer and he sticks to sandals (he teaches; has the summer off). Blood tests were performed, in fact this was the first thing done and obviously did not reveal a problem. Oh well…