A 60-year-old woman undergoing breast reconstruction developed a bluish tint across her entire body after surgeons injected a dye commonly used to map lymph vessels and nodes. She also produced blue-green urine, and tests revealed methemoglobinemia, a blood disorder that reduces the blood's ability to deliver oxygen.
The case, published in A&A Practice in July 2025 by Gaetano Gazzè and colleagues at Policlinico Umberto I in Rome, involved Patent Blue V, a dye that is regaining popularity as lymphatic reconstruction techniques advance. The authors described the diffuse bluish skin as a previously unreported manifestation of the dye.
