Jewelry and Nickel Allergy
Beating the "allergy itch" when wearing your favorite jewelry
Has this ever happened to you? You buy the most incredibly beautiful pair of earrings at your favorite local boutique. Then after a few days it happens. Your earlobes begin to itch. Soon after, an angry red rash breaks out on your skin. You stop wearing the earrings for awhile and the rash goes away. When you try to wear them again, the itchy rash returns. You realize that you are allergic to your beautiful earrings.
If this story sounds familiar, you're not alone. Thousands of women suffer from "allergic contact dermatitis". Contact dermatitis occurs when some foreign substance comes in contact with bare skin. Women who are highly sensitive can develop this allergy fairly rapidly, within days, or even hours. Common symptoms include itching, inflammation, flaking, weeping, and soreness of the exposed area. Like other allergies, sensitivity to nickel can develop at any age and can last for years. Sometimes symptoms do gradually become less severe after a period of time or even disappear completely.
If you have contact dermatitis from nickel, you may find that you can only wear pure gold or fine silver jewelry. If you are highly sensitive, you may find that sterling silver or even 14 or 18kt gold can give you trouble because there are trace amounts of nickel in these metals or in the solder used in the jewelry.
The best way to avoid an allergic reaction is to avoid contact with item containing nickel. Unfortunately, nickel is used in a lot of jewelry. So what's a jewelry-loving girl to do? What are the best earrings for sensitive ears? Here are some tips.
- Before you buy jewelry, ask the jeweler or salesperson about the nickel content in the jewelry piece. Remember that even sterling silver and 14kt to 18kt gold may still have trace amounts of nickel.
- Be careful when buying jewelry that is marked "hypoallergenic". Hypoallergenic jewelry generally means that the posts or ear wires are made of surgical steel, the same metal used in making surgical instruments. However if the earrings themselves or the solder used to attach the post contains nickel, you will still get in allergic reaction.
- Check out some of the alternative metals used in jewelry today such as niobium, aluminum, titanium, and platinum. Also, consider replacing the backs of your earrings with stainless steel, titanium, platinum, or plastic.
- If you happen to get reaction from a piece of jewelry remove the item immediately, and apply cortisone medication to the affected area. Don't scratch! Scratching the area can cause infection. The rash will usually clear up soon after removing the jewelry. If problem persists or get worse, see a doctor.
- Keep the area between your skin and your jewelry dry. Wet or damp skin can leach metal particles out of your jewelry and increase the chance of a reaction. Remove your jewelry if your going to shower, swim, do dishes, or do some kind of strenuous exercise.
- Don't wear your jewelry any longer that you have to. The less contact the metal has with your skin, the less chance of developing an allergy.
- If you are planning on getting a piercing, make sure that it's done with a stainless steel needle and that you wear stainless steel or 18kt or higher gold posts until the pierced area is healed completely. Doing so can help you avoid developing allergies to nickel later on.
