hello - i've been on a low-carb diet since december of 2009. I've lost ~80 pounds. I try and stay away from carbs as much as possible and I tend to eat a lot of meat.
What I have a problem with is a frequent case of poor skin complexion that I'm concerned might be related to this diet. I'm frequently told that I have a grey/green skin complexion. Apparently it changes all the time - sometimes I have it, sometimes I don't, but it's frequent enough to cause me concern. Sometimes people can be really alarmed and will set me aside and ask me if everything is ok. Yesterday I took my son to McDonald's and the guy behind the counter asked me if I was ok and I said 'sure, why?' and he said 'because your face is really green! you sure everything's ok?' - that type of stuff. It really bothers me when this happens, I get very embarassed.

Does anyone know what this might be related to? I've heard opponents to low carb dieting say that this type of thing can happen but I don't recall ever coming across it in the low carb literature. I get embarassed by it and it's intereseting, neither me nor my wife or kids can tell. Whenever someone tells me I look this way, when I ask my wife & kids they say they don't notice anything wrong, even when multiple people are noticing it with me. This is probably because they are with me so frequently that they don't notice.

As mentioned - I tend to eat a lot of meat so I was thinking it might be related to that.
In addition to my diet, I take a daily multivitamin, fish oil, & vitamin D
any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

I'd go see a doctor. Gray skin color can be some underlying disease. Never heard of skin turning green though.

I don't think it's diet related, please go get your liver checked. One of the signs of hepatitis and liver failure is a greenish look. You need a check up NOW! Plenty of people who aren't dieting, get liver trouble and that colour is the first sign for many of them.

I've been to the doctor about this issue a couple of times. They did a number of lab panels and nothing came out from them. I do have kidney problems, but my nephrologist says that my skin complexion problems are not consistent with my kidney issues. He doesn't know what the problem is.

Then get a referral from your current nephrologist to a hepatologist: A gastroenterologist who specializes in diagnosing and treating liver diseases.

The greenest person I've ever seen I was told was recovering from a very severe episode of acute anemia. She seriously looked green, not just pale. And that was after she was back at work. Not sure about the specific diagnosis, but she looked *scary*.

If doctors aren't helping you..I'd try Google. Seriously. I've found many answers for my own health problems or with my dogs thanks to the internet and doctors failing. Just Google different variations of what you already posted "grey/green skin"

Could be too much iron, that can cause a greyish/green hue to the skin. It would fit with the high meat intake - check to make sure that your multivitamin doesn't include iron too.

Oh, it's a long shot, but if you're consuming silver it can turn your skin permanently grey.

i definitely think you should take the other's suggestions of liver problem to heart, but since you have mentioned you eat a lot of meat, i wonder if you might be eating too much meat and not enough fat. in gary taubes' book why we get fat, he mentions that lc diets were done safely and effectively in the past by eating 75% fat, and 25% protein. that is a significant amount of fat, not to be gotten just by eating the fat that happens to be on the meat.

lc diets are supposed to be high in fat, not high in protein. you may want to take this into consideration.

all the best.

THIS! yes, I've seen this a few times...and everytime it was anemia (and several of the cases were pernicious anemia and hypothyroidism together..anemia, especially pernicious...is found with hypothyroidism a LOT in females).

Yep, 'scary' is the right terminology...if you've seen this, it's almost as if the person is wearing some type of 'green makeup base'.

my mother has an 'olive' skintone and she looks sort of greenish in the winter because she's lost her summer colour.

Does your heritage include having an olive skintone?

On the otherhand, you probably should follow the advice to look into this more medically speaking.