subject: Nickel Allergies And Nickel Free Earrings [print this page] According to the Mayo Clinic, nickel allergy is one of the most common forms of skin allergies and appears as an itchy rash on the skin when nickel encounters the skin, usually due to earrings and other jewelry. If you have a nickel allergy and wear nickel-based earrings, you will find that the skin on the ears gets itchy and red when the earrings are in the ears. As such, you will need to start using nickel free earrings to help prevent the problem. The reason for the need for earrings without nickel is that once sensitivity to nickel develops, it will always be present and a reaction to nickel will usually occur on your skin.
Nickel Allergy
A nickel allergy occurs when your body reacts to metals like palladium, nickel or cobalt and creates an allergic reaction as a response. Once an allergic reaction forms in response to a material, such as nickel, you will always have sensitivity (allergy) to that material.
Symptoms
A nickel rash allergy typically appears within 48 hours of exposure and shows up where the nickel was in contact with the skin. In the case of nickel earrings, this is on the ear lobes, both front and back.
The allergy may appear as an itchy, red rash, extra dry skin or even blisters that drain fluid in extreme cases.
Testing
If your doctor thinks that you may have a nickel allergy, she may perform a patch test, in which a small amount of nickel on a small bandage-like patch is put on the skin. The patch remains on the skin for a few days and then the doctor takes the bandage off and evaluates the results. If your skin is red, itchy and inflamed where the patch was in place, the diagnosis is a nickel allergy.
Treatment
If you develop a nickel allergy, apply a small amount of corticosteroid cream, available at most grocery and drug stores, to the allergic reaction and wait a few days for the allergic reaction to pass. You may also take an oral antihistamine for additional relief.
Non-Nickel Earrings
If you have a nickel allergy and enjoy wearing earrings, do not despair. You can try to apply a small amount of corticosteroid cream to the ear before inserting any earrings with nickel, but beware that you will likely still encounter an allergic reaction of some kind.
The best way to manage this allergy is to wear non-nickel earrings, but the good news is that there are many kinds of non-nickel earrings available in the market.
Look for earrings and other jewelry marked 'hypoallergenic' because this means the earrings have stainless steel or non-nickel yellow gold instead of nickel. Most earrings that do not have nickel are marked as such on the packaging.
Watch out for cobalt or white gold metal earrings, as these metals often contain at least some amount of nickel and therefore may cause an allergic reaction.
If you keep your earrings and earring backs separate and are not sure which earring backs are hypoallergenic, discard any suspicious earring backs and purchase new earring backs marked 'hypoallergenic'.
Additional Precautions
If you have a nickel allergy and wish to get other areas of your body pierced or tattooed, be sure to ask if the studio uses sterile equipment with surgical-steel stainless needles instead of nickel. Do not allow the use of a piercing gun, which is not necessarily non-nickel or sterile and may cause an allergic reaction. Select non-nickel jewelry for your piercing.
With some basic precautions, you can still wear and enjoy earrings as long as they do not have nickel.
