Killer diamond earrings *BUT* killer ear infection! Oh no..help!

[divergrrl]

I tell ya...finally get thru my whole ring re-design mess and use my princess sides stones from the old 3 stone design to make a killer set of 1ctw earrings.

Designer sets them into lovely 14k white gold basket stud earrings. Love them, they are huge in my earlobes with tons of pretty sparklies.

Now, my right ear is all infected. I tried the solution I gave to a previous poster (and one that worked wonders for me in childhood) to no avail. Hydrogen peroxide to disinfect, neosporin day & nite, take out earrings before bed, and I am at a loss.

I have to go downtown tomorrow, and can pop by the designer and have them reset (this project has sucked more $$ out of me) but I was wondering, what metal will not infect my ears? I am not interested in yellow gold, all my jewelry is white gold, platinum, or sterling. Will 18kt white gold be better, or platinum, or do they make titanium posts...I do know I have never had a problem with 10kt, 14kt, or 18kt yellow gold in the past, so why now with the 14kt white?

I am also wondering if anyone remembers hearing anything about plastic earring post "sheaths", or if that''s just wishful thinking on my part turned into a false memory.


Muchas Gracias

Divergrrl

 

[justme]

divergirl -

Your memory is right

http://www.rings-things.com/Catalog_Pages/008.htm
http://www.jewelrybyrhonda.com/ear_solutions.htm

You'll need to use plastic backs or platinum also.

You must have developed a nickel allergy. You can try clear nail polish as a temp. solution.

Justme

 

[Mara]

Hey Diver--sorry to hear about your ear infection. I used to get those alot when I was younger but not anymore...however sometimes one of my ears does get a little irritated.

I suggest you stop wearing the earrings and let the ear heal completely..maybe a week or two. Then try the process again, maybe swabbing alcohol along the posts before putting them on or something or try new backs as you suggested.

Your ear would probably heal up if you stopped wearing the earrings for the short term. Traumatic I know!

 

[AmPm]

Ouch! ear infections nasty, does sound like you have an allergy to nickel, I think you'll find Platinum the best option been such a pure metal unlike other metals which are alloy's.
Hope your ears are better soon.

 

[lcd52]

I have very sensitive skin. This is what I do with all my earings: I clean the earings' posts with rubbing alcohol. I also clean the holes in my earlobe with alcohol. Then, I stick some clear Bacitracin (unsure of spelling)on the earings before placing them in my ear. This always works for me - But you have to wait until your ears have completely healed.
Good luck with your beautiful earings!

 

[dimonbob]

Hi Divergrrl,

My ex-wife has the same problem. She can wear even cheap yellow gold but white gold gives her ears a real problem.
I took care of the problem by changing the posts to platinum, rhodium plated the complete earring after steam cleaning and changed out the friction backs to platinum, although the plastic ones will work also. She now has happy ears, I think. My present wife would not like me checking out my x's ears.:-0

 

[Gene]

Your options:

* white gold "bleached" with palladium, NOT nickel
* yellow gold (no bleaching needed, hence no nickel)
* platinum
* surgical steel (no, really!)
* sterling silver

"White gold" is, well, probably the worst possible material
for earrings, allergy-wise, because of how much nickel it
has -- unless the alloy was cast with palladium instead..

Even sterling silver is better! By definition, 925 SS
stands for "92.5% Silver" (the other % is copper).

It amazes me how many jewelers don't know what kind they
have -- only that it's 14k or 18k. I don't care if it's
10k, as long as it's made without nickel!

So my advice -- please, there's no reason to torture
yourself by using creams, or spacing out how often you
wear them, etc -- posts for earrings should be neither
too difficult nor too expensive to change.

 

[divergrrl]

Thanks everyone! Wow, what a helpful group.

Apparently the nickel issue is a big one. And yes Mara, not wearing my earrings...so traumatic, especially when new! but I've been good, keep putting neosporin on and letting my stones sleep in my jewelry box.

I talked to a jeweler, and since I really don't want to keep throwing money at problems, she recommended having the posts taken off and replaced with 14kt yellow gold posts & two new backs, that worked for her white gold allergies, and she showed me her diamond earrings that she just had that done to(that she was wearing trouble-free). I'll compare the cost of that repair to using platinum, but even that's an unknown in my ear. I know that yellow gold doesn't give me any grief. When I pierced my belly button years ago, I used a gold ring and had no trouble the entire time I had it.

Thank you everyone, such great information. Next time I buy a white gold earring I'll stop and check to see if it has palladium instead of nickel as the alloy used. Funny my SS never gives me trouble either.

cheers!

d-grrl

 

[gemsource]

I WOULD GO WITH PLATINUM.PLATINUM IS THE NOBLEST OF ALL METALS.MOST IS ALLOYED WITH IRIDIUM 90%PLAT TO 10%IRRIDIUM OR 950 PLAT. NO NICKLE NO COPPER NO WORRY