<p>Is anyone else allergic to earrings? I didn’t have a problem until about 5 years ago, but am now finding it increasingly difficult to find ones that don’t turn my earlobes bright red and burn. I asked my dermatologist and she mumbled something about nickel but wasn’t very helpful. For a while I dipped the post in cortisone but that’s not helping anymore, either. What’s the best type to get? silver? stainless steel maybe? White gold is the worst for some reason. very odd!</p>
<p>It is usually not the “gold” it is the nickel, or silver or other minerals in the metal. The higher the gold content–ie 18 carat–usually the less the reaction. White gold has silver or maybe palladium (?) in it. And some white gold has some sort of a “sealer” applied or something electroplated to it to enhance its “affect.” And be sure the backs are 18 carat as well. Many times the backs get switched around, even in a store.</p>
<p>You might try painting clear fingernail polish on a few of your earrings–it is a lot of trouble , I know. Son had a similar problem when he was younger-the snaps on jeans left a round circular burn on his stomach. It looked almost like a cigarette burn. Dr. said to try clear polish on the snaps. It seemed to do the trick. He has outgrown the problem, now, tho.</p>
<p>Surgical stainless steel also works well.</p>
<p>My best friend’s daughter is allergic to earrings. They either have to get gold, at least 10karot, or they have to get nickel-free. You can find a lot of nickel-free earrings; you just have to read the labels. </p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>I’ll go try the nail polish. Good idea! I also wonder if platinum would be the way to go for the “good” stuff.?</p>
<p>Notre dame al, my D had the same problem with jeans also, and has also outgrown it. The clear polish worked for us too. She still can’t wear earrings less than 14k. It sounds dke that you have aquired this same allergy, just much later in life.</p>
<p>The OP probably is allergic to nickel. This happened to my D, who had to let her original piercings heal completely and then have them repierced with nickel-free (titanium works well) earring studs. She now has to be very careful what she puts in her ears and orders a lot of her earrings from a place called (stupid name) Simply Whispers. But Target also has nickel-free jewelry, as allergies to nickel have become very, very common due to kids getting so many piercings.</p>
<p>One thing we have found (all 3 Ds allergic to nickel) is to not believe it when the earrings say “allergy free”, “nickel free”, “for sensitive ears” or even 24K gold earrings. A lot of times there is nickel in the solder that attaches the post to the front or the backs themselves contain nickel. We stick with sterling silver with no problems. I also buy pure sterling silver earring backs in bulk from firemountaingems.com.</p>
<p>Interesting…I’ve been wearing earrings for 30 years, and just very recently developed an allergy to the pair I wear every day. My piercings become all itchy and irritated. I tried several other pairs, but no go. I’m going to try the nail polish…</p>
<p>I find that sterling silver posts or 14k gold posts are fine, but I avoid anything else and that seems to avoid any itching or irritationg. I’ve had pierced ears for 40 years and haven’t really had that much of a peoblem with other materials but prefer to be cautious. My college-age D, who has had pierced ears for about ten years, is more sensitive, so wears only silver or gold posts but I am not sure about the wires in her dangly earrings. I do think the nickel in some earrings is an irritant.</p>
<p>That suggestion of getting sterling earring backs in bulk is a good idea.</p>
<p>All the women in our family have the same problem. So most of us don’t wear earrings that often. I don’t know why but none of us can wear silver for any length of time in our ears. We do fairly well with 14K gold.
What I do is coat the post with neosporin before I put them in. This works fairly well. Though I have resorted to only wearing earrings on special occasions.
What I loved about my D’s was it saved us having them want all those really large ugly earrings that young teen girls seem to love.</p>
<p>Some interesting reading:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.gold.org/jewellery/technology/alloys/[/url]”>http://www.gold.org/jewellery/technology/alloys/</a></p>
<p>I suspect the typical “white gold” sold in stores is the “nickel” kind, which is usually the main allergy-causing component.</p>
<p>D has a nickel allergy, too. A few years back, she developed a terrible rash on her abdomen from the buckles on her belts and the metal button on jeans. When the nurse practiononer at the dermatologist office told her not to wear jeans anymore and D (she was 16) inquired “what am I supposed to wear?”, the woman replied, “knit stretch pants like I have on”. Needless to say, we switched doctors right after that! She now only buys earrings that are for sensitive ears, and coats the inside of her button with clear polish. She seldom wears belts anymore.</p>
<p>
I’m with mathmom on this. I don’t buy the “hypoallergenic” “surgical steel” etc. labels.
I don’t know whether it’s false advertising that they aren’t really surgical steel or whether, as someone above said, the solder is a problem.</p>
<p>I find that I can only wear solid gold. (Maybe sterling silver, I’ve not really tried it).</p>
<p>I’ve also used the Neosporin and nail polish tricks when I really really wanted to wear some that I have for a couple of hours. But those tricks don’t work for me for all day wear.</p>
<p>allie’smom…LOL. Can’t imagine why your 16-yr-old D wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of wearing knit stretch pants. Was the n.p. wearing polyester 2 sizes too small so that her cellulite showed, also!!!</p>
<p>We went through this allergy thing…D’s ears were really irritated; we went to Claire’s and bought a pair of the surgical steel posts that they do the piercings with----she wore those for a couple of weeks until her ears healed completely—then went with the suggestions that other posters here have had—clear nail polish, surgical steel backs, etc.</p>
<p>I have the worst nickel allergy. I have tons of other seasonal allergies (to the point where I’m allergic to certain fruits/veggies due to my over sensitive immune system) but the nickel has haunted me my entire life. I got them pierced when I was about 4, and went for years suffering through pairs and pairs of earrings because I was a pretty avid earring collector. My parents finally drew the line when I was around 13 and had my cartridge pierced and was contemplating taking out all of my earrings. They went to an actual jeweler (Christain Benard, amazing stuff) and talked to the owner about my problem and she suggested white gold. She offered to let me try them for a week or two (even thought it would take only a few hours for my reaction to flare), so they got me a pair of white gold earrings, and I have never gone back to anything else. I have two pairs of everyday white gold earrings and then a pair of nice ones that I wear out, plus a set for my cartledge, and that’s pretty much all I wear (although I do suffer through a few hours if I need to wear something dangly-nice, such as prom, graduation, etc). I know cheaper white gold earrings can have nickel in them, as well as sterling silver. So for anyone with serious allergies, I’d suggest going to jeweler and talking to them and see what they can do for you. A good jeweler will allow you to return the earrings and keep trying until you find something you like. If white gold doesn’t work, move on to gold (high caret!), stainless steel, then if you really want something that won’t cause any problems, move on to platinum or titanium (that was going to be my next step). Plat/Titan. have a very hard time to react due to their chemical make-up, but both are very precious metals and thus cost quite a sum. Also, try looking for an earring that you can wear everyday and enjoy them. This way, you won’t be motivated to buy other pairs of earrings, and instead, get by with the 2-3 pairs that don’t irritate your ears. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’ve had the same problem for years, and can now no longer wear any sort of pierced earring, because my holes have closed up, and keloid scarring has formed inside the ear lobes. I was told that I had a nickle allergy also and that sterling silver often has nickel in it also. That, I found to be true, as I couldn’t wear sterling either. Pure silver (much harder to find!) probably won’t pose a problem, though. 18 carat gold is not likely to be problematic either.</p>
<p>I’ve found that I can’t wear watches with metal bands unless they are worn loose, like a bracelet. The idea is to avoid sustained contact with the skin. I even have to loosen the bands of my leather strapped watches to avoid irritation from the metal backs of the watch faces. But no area on my body seems to be as sensitive as the skin on my ear lobes. I get a truly gruesome, red weepy rash if they even sense nickel near them:p.</p>
<p>my D went through this and we ended up ordering through a catalog…simply whispers. All of their jewelry is hypo-allergenic and nickel-free.</p>
<p>this is great. thanks!</p>