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Really sensitive ears, help please!

blingbunny10

blingbunny10

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
848
(I wasn’t exactly sure where to post this, so mods, please feel free to move!)

Wondering if PSers can help-I’ve been wearing white gold and silver earrings on and off for years, but have not been able to wear my white gold studs since being pregnant. I wondered if I had developed a nickel allergy, but I do still wear white gold rings daily with no problems. I also bought a pair of rose gold studs to try in my ears and had to take them out. My ears itch and turn red/swollen.

Has anyone had their ears just become very sensitive to jewelry? Did you find a solution? I saw that some people coat their posts with clear nail polish... I tried that and the polish just shredded off whenever I pushed the earring back onto the post... and I don’t want to put nail polish shards in my ears! Is there something a jeweler could do if I took all my earrings into him? Do I need to reset everything in platinum? Would that even help?

I am especially bummed as I just bought some lovely preloved studs from a couple of PSers and they have just been sitting unworn. sad :((
 
I too have a nickel sensitive and earrings often cause me trouble. What I found that helps is to stick the post part into Vaseline so it’s got like a coating on it as you put it through your ears. Also, don’t keep them in your ears any longer than necessary.
 
Sorry you are experiencing this problem. I hope it’s just a nickel allergy. I haven’t been able to wear earrings for years. I’m allergic to all types of metal alloys in my ears. I even found a pair of titanium hoops I thought for sure I wouldn’t react to. After all titanium is used in the body for hip replacement etc. Nope got itchy swollen painful lobes. Good luck, I know your frustration well.
 
Bron357 said:
I too have a nickel sensitive and earrings often cause me trouble. What I found that helps is to stick the post part into Vaseline so it’s got like a coating on it as you put it through your ears. Also, don’t keep them in your ears any longer than necessary.
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In lieu of an oil base I'd recommend water based lubricant the type they sell for ahem... intimate moments. My local CVS sells it generically.

I also recommend sea salt soaks.
 
Hi, I have a horrible nickel sensitivity as well. It's only a problem in my ears, but the swell up and get infected immediately. I also have problems with lots of other alloys, so I stick to platinum only for new purchases.

What does help is disinfectant. It keeps the infection at bay and doubles as lubricant.
I use the ones recommended for new earring disinfection.
The infection is not directly caused by the allergic reaction, but by bacteria growth on the sensitised area.
So I can wear some of my fancy earrings for a short time. I also try to minimise the exposed area by using plastic backs.
 
Hi blingbuddy10,
I've read that if you have a nickel allergy, it could help to have your earrings rhodium plated. It might be worth a try! :roll
 
Wait until you are a few months post delivery and see if you can tolerate them again. Pregnancy can make our bodies do weird things!
 
"In lieu of an oil base I'd recommend water based lubricant the type they sell for ahem... intimate moments."

Hmm, I may need to suggest this to my sister-in-law. She seems to have nickel-sensitive ears as well.
 
I use polysporin sometimes. I don't know if there would be a side effect or not, but at least it is lubricating and anti-biotic.
 
Asscherhalo_lover said:
Wait until you are a few months post delivery and see if you can tolerate them again. Pregnancy can make our bodies do weird things!
Click to expand...

This. Hopefully it will be a temporary situation.
 
lyra said:
I use polysporin sometimes. I don't know if there would be a side effect or not, but at least it is lubricating and anti-biotic.
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Not good to put that IN the piercing. It's only meant to be topical.
 
At this point, my main ear piercings are 42 years old. I figure they're probably healed. Actually, the only thing that will bother them is having too thick a gauge of post. I have these tiny diamond huggies that are just a tiny bit larger post, and I can't wear them for very long.:lol-2:
 
My solution has been to stick to platinum and nickel-free white gold for earrings. I'm allergic to nickel, but I react to 14k yellow gold also as well as titanium and silver, so I know it's not just nickel.
 
I don't have any allergies, but I am heartbroken about wearing earrings too. I seem to have developed some hard lumpy scar tissue around the hole in my right ear. If I palpate the skin between my fingers, I feel this little hard bump, and, after wearing earrings, the back of the hole often scabs (sorry if these details seem gross to anyone, haha). Has anyone else ever had this or heard of this?
 
I miss earrings....I started having issues probably 3 or 4 years ago...doesn't matter what I wear gold or platinum...my ears swell up and turned red and sometimes they bleed...I had worn earrings for approx 40 years when this all started happening :cry:
 
alittlelight said:
I don't have any allergies, but I am heartbroken about wearing earrings too. I seem to have developed some hard lumpy scar tissue around the hole in my right ear. If I palpate the skin between my fingers, I feel this little hard bump, and, after wearing earrings, the back of the hole often scabs (sorry if these details seem gross to anyone, haha). Has anyone else ever had this or heard of this?
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Go to a piercing place and get the finest gauge hoops they have. This will keep the piercing open. Twice a day do saline soaks. Use a mug or a large shot glass. The ratio of warm water to sea salt should be 1tsp to 1cup of warm water. Soak sitting in the shower and gently rotate hoop. Once you're healed, remove the hoops and try earrings again.
 
diamondringlover said:
I miss earrings....I started having issues probably 3 or 4 years ago...doesn't matter what I wear gold or platinum...my ears swell up and turned red and sometimes they bleed...I had worn earrings for approx 40 years when this all started happening :cry:
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This sounds a lot like my experience too. I could wear anything, then something went haywire with my chemistry and I can’t wear anything! o_O I even experimented with dainty clip ons. Nope, any contact with my lobes causes red rashy pain :cry2:
 
I really appreciate all the advice! I realize I posted this thread and disappeared. :oops:

Bron357 and PintoBean - thanks, I have both Vaseline and waterbased stuff, I’ll give them a try.

Luce - I wondered about rhodium plating, but I’m also having a reaction to 14k rose gold, which is not supposed to contain nickel as far as I know. :confused: So I was thinking a platinum dip or something, if a jeweler could even do that?

Bonfire - ugh I’m sorry! I thought titanium and stainless steel for sure would be my last ditch options if platinum didn’t work. I’ve not heard of people reacting to those.

Asscherhalo - thanks, but I’m actually 18 months postpartum! So I’m not holding out hope that the ear sensitivity will change... I’m disappointed because I’d been wearing relatively cheapo silver and 14k studs and now that I’ve finally bought some nicer diamond and gold earrings, my ears can no longer take any earrings at all.

Kipari- that’s interesting... so it would be an infection or something IN the ear piercing holes?

Alittlelight- yes, that pretty much describes what I think is happening to me! My earlobes feel kind of thick and when I put earrings in they quickly lump up and sometimes crust or turn red and hot or itchy. Have you tried any of the methods other ladies have recommended above?
 
PintoBean - ok, stupid question, but how do you soak your ears in salt water? I’d like to try that.
 
blingbunny10 said:
PintoBean - ok, stupid question, but how do you soak your ears in salt water? I’d like to try that.
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I take a mug into the shower with me. I have a tsp of salt in it and just add the hot shower water to it.

(Psst... if your hoo ha gets irritated you can also do something similar with a mug or a similar container in lieu of scrubbing down your bathtub or buying a sitz bath apparatus.)
 
PintoBean said:
I take a mug into the shower with me. I have a tsp of salt in it and just add the hot shower water to it.

(Psst... if your hoo ha gets irritated you can also do something similar with a mug or a similar container in lieu of scrubbing down your bathtub or buying a sitz bath apparatus.)
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You should write a book. “Practical Pointers” by Pintobean. I’d buy a copy ;)2
 
Bonfire said:
You should write a book. “Practical Pointers” by Pintobean. I’d buy a copy ;)2
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That's so funny and flattering! I'm really an impractical discombobulated swan, so I really pay attention to what others advise and absorb it all like a sponge (bc being practical is NOT innate to me!). And you know, the stuff that's more challenging for you tends to stick with you better lol... the irony of it all lololol.
 
Bonfire said:
This sounds a lot like my experience too. I could wear anything, then something went haywire with my chemistry and I can’t wear anything! o_O I even experimented with dainty clip ons. Nope, any contact with my lobes causes red rashy pain :cry2:
Click to expand...

I forgot about clip on's my son got married last year and I tried on a pair of clip on's in the store and yeah my ear turned red just trying it on....yeah no clue what happened...sorry maybe your will get better mine has not.
 
I’ve given up. My ears have spoken! :oops2:
 
White gold earrings are typically rhodium plated so if you're having a reaction to those, it's probably not nickel. My ears sometimes get a little irritated by some of my 14k YG earrings but not others.

I never had a reaction to stainless or plat. QVC sells inexpensive platinum plated cz studs that you can try out to see if you get a reaction. QVC plat plated studs are my go-to travel earrings. I can sleep, swim and wear those non-stop without a reaction.
 
I have 3 pairs of earrings I wear and that’s pretty much it because my ears can get very bothered. Here’s what helps me:

My earrings only have thin posts (even slightly thick posts bother me). I put them in after my morning shower and that really helps. Once in, that’s it, no taking them back out or switching. No texture on the posts (like with screw on backs). No heavy earrings.

Sometimes I think it’s just the friction of putting them in that bothers me and not a metal allergy. Long hooks with dangle earrings really bother me. So much that needs to go through the ear!
 
I think that a lot of the advice here is great! I've used many of them myself. But my favorite trick is something that my grandmother taught me. She would sift through cheap cheap cheap teas to pick out the littlest twigs (decent teas will NOT have twigs in them) and after a 10 minute soak in boiled water to clean them, put them in my ears in lieu of earrings.

I guess something about tea tree oil being antibiotic, my ears would calm down within a few days. But this is a pretty labor intensive treatment though, you HAVE to change these out everyday (sanitary reasons). Sometimes, if I'm having a particularly bad reaction - the first time this comes out, it'll be soaked in puss or whatever bacterial bs is causing the infection. Nowadays I don't wait...first sign of trouble, I reach for the tea.
 
I use to buy tea tree oil at health store and will dip the earring post just before wearing as a preventative measure. Worked for me.
 
Rubybrick said:
I use to buy tea tree oil at health store and will dip the earring post just before wearing as a preventative measure. Worked for me.
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Preventative yes is fine but don't do this if you're flared up already. Last thing you need is your bod to think that tea tree is also an enemy
 
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