Irritated Earlobes!

[mayennaise]

Had my ears pierced about 30 years ago. Soon discovered that I had a severe reaction(itching, swelling and weeping) to any earrings that weren't pure gold. Solved the problem of occasionally wearing 'fashion' earrings by painting the posts ( the bits that touched my skin) with nail varnish. Not worn any earrings for about 4 months till yesterday, when I wore my 18 carat gold studs. This morning my ear lobes were swollen, itchy and weepy!! Why am I now allergic to gold??

[roxie_09]

My ears often do this when I havent worn earrings for a while, I tend to leave them in for a few days and they calm down x

[mayennaise]

I did try but I nearly ripped my earlobes off this morning cos they itched so much so had to take the earring out - not sure if I can stand it long enough to get over it!

[roxie_09]

:( I don't know what to suggest, but good luck with it :) x

[Quassia]

Are the butterflys gold too?

[erin-x]

I'm the same but I can wear silver as well. I've not had any earrings in for months. I hope they don't go like that! :| lol

[boxtops]

my mum had this problem, she gave up in the end and stuck to clip earrings.

[Eve]

I have that problem as well if I don't wear earrings for a while.

Wore some last night and they just drive my ears mad and I took them out in the end.

[woofgang]

try using Eurax cream on your ears and taking an antihistamine. I get the same problem, although, not so bad, if I leave mine out for over a week or so....the other thing, and I don't mean to be rude, learned this the hard way, is to clean the earring posts thoroughly after use with an antiseptic wipe or similar (not baby wipes, you want a bacteria killer. Especially important if you use hairspray or make up around your ears. Monitor the reaction though, if you have trouble breathing or your lips and tongue start to swell, 999 or straight to a and e.

[boxtops]

can you get an anaphylactic reason from earrings, woofgang! I never thought of that!

[woofgang]

you can get an anaphylactic from any allergy boxy!

[pastafreak]

It's not the gold,it's the nickel that is used with the gold,or in cheaper costume jewellery, that causes a reaction. Look for 'surgical steel' studs or fittings, or those labelled 'nickel free'.

[Sqad]

I agree with pastafreak, it is extremely unlikely that you are allergic to gold and that your hypersensitivity is almost certainly due to nickel allergy.

Get to the chemist and buy Synalar cream and that should settle the ear problem unless of course, i tis now infected.

[mayennaise]

Thank you for all your suggestions - I am working my way through them. My daughter has a nickel allergy and can't wear a watch as a result but she can wear fashion earrings with no ill effects!! Why does this aversion to nickel only happen on certain bits of the body but not others?

[Sqad]

No idea.