Jewelry Allergy?

My wedding ring does the same thing to me. A friend suggested I put a little stick deoderant on my finger where the band touches it. This has worked for me - no more irritation and I can wear my ring all the time! Hope this helps.

The exact same thing happends to me. Sometimes it clears up and I am fine for months, then it starts acting up again. One thing I have noticed that helps a lot is if I take my rings off when I wash my hands. Before I put the rings back on I make sure that my finger is completely dry. Sometimes the water can get trapped under the ring and it makes the allergy act up or makes the allergy even worse. You are not alone! I also use clear finger nail polish as a last resort.

I've had that sort of problem in the past when I've been using liquid soap and, in particular, strong commercial type soaps like you get in office restrooms sometimes. If you don't rinse it thoroughly, totally, 100% off then a residue can be left under your ring which causes irritation. Just a thought!

Hey T., same thing happened to me!!! After 3 years of wearing the same ring all of a sudden just broke out! I went to my dermatologist and he gave me a steroid cream that cleared it right up! Now it only happens every once in a while! Good luck!

When my husband proposed to me he bought a white gold setting... I had problems with itching, etc. even with taking it off to wash my hands. We upgraded to a platinum setting and I have never had a problem since... in and out of water.

Good luck!

Can't really help you with your problem, Sorry, but I moved here a little over a year ago myself. We lived in Taunton. Where did you live? you can email me ____@____.com

I used to work in jewlery and it was amazing how many people had this problem and thought it was the jewelry not them. Truly it can be a combo. Your body chemistry can change over your lifetime (pregnancy being one of the big changes, or using a new beauty product/lotion, or a new medication) and can react to the metals differently over time, so even if you never had a problem before it is possible to start having one. Also it can be the mix of metals in a particular piece. Metal in a lot jewelry (especially white gold) is a mix of alloys and that percentage of mix can be different from brand to brand (ie. this 14kt ring from this maker may not bother you and this 14kt from that maker will). The higher the kt. on jewelry the purer gold it is and less likely to bother you but it will also be softer and more likely to bend, platinum is usually very hypo allergenic but more expensive and it is still possible to react to it. We used to suggest keeping the rings very clean, don't wear them when washing as it can cause irritation, and clear nail polish on the inside. As someone else said, resizing just a little can also help make the ring not rub so closely. Taking jewelry off at night may help too. White gold is usually dipped in rhodium to make it appear whiter and over time this wears off, if your ring looks a little yellow it may need to have this redone and it can help make another barrier between your finger and the ring. Ask your jeweler if your ring would need/ be ready for this touch up. Good luck!

This very same thing happened to me and I thought it was something else in my diet contributing to the problem, I even went to see a doctor who told me I had psoriasis (sp. Turns out that I took my bank (white gold) into a jeweler and his wife had the same problem. Something in the white gold breaks down after time and it needs to be re-dipped in order to correct the breakdown in chemicals. My ring looked brand new and the whole itchy, swollen, blistered finger thing went away. It cost me about $100 to re0dip at Frisco Gold and Silver and took about 5 days. You might try this before buying a whole new ring or taking some sort of medication to correct what most are mis-diagnosing as hormonal imbalances.

I know this sounds crazy, but could you be pregnant? My rings do not normally bother me, but when I'm pregnant I develope an allergic reaction to my rings that sounds similar to what you are describing. I didn't find a solution, I just had to stop wearing them until after the baby was born. Then it went back to normal.

T.-
The same thing happened to me - my band is platinum and engagement ring is white gold. Once I started wearing my band, my finger broke out. I thought it was the soap issue and tried to keep it clean, but that didn't work. Once, I wore by band (after a good cleaning) by itself, just to see if my finger would break out and after about 6 hours, it did. No handwashing involved. If the soap and dermatologist don't work, you may just be allergic to your ring. I've had to stop wearing my band, and probably won't buy platinum jewelry anymore.
Good luck - I hope you are able to solve your problem.

My little brother just one day started itching from his wedding ring... turns out... he formed an allergy to it. They had to get him a different ring, I think its titanium now (shame he still has the same wife, tho) ;)

Same thing happens to me, and again like someone else said it was after wearing the ring for years with no problem, I really think it has to do with soap and chemicals getting trapped under the ring. I use natural products but it seems to happen if I have been out in public and washed my hands with other soaps. It is frustrating though, let me know if you get any solutions. :)
M.
www.workathomeunited.com/texas

The same thing happened to me when I was pregnant. Mine was a bunch of blisters though and it spread down my hand--gross. Anyway, I just tried to keep my finger dry underneath my ring, which is white gold, and wound up not wearing it for a little while. I still had a problem every once in a while, so I got it resized (bigger) and it hasn't given me a problem since then.

Hi there. Just wanted to offer advice to other people out there who have nickel allergies. Instead of constantly worrying about sweating, buying hypo-allergenic jewelry and putting barrier creams on, you can create a barrier on the jewelry itself. I've heard that a lot of people use the old clear nail polish technique. This is so unfortunate, as I'm sure it ruins the jewelry. Kind of a shame, esp if you're using it on wedding rings or family heirlooms. Anyway there's a product out there now called Super Surface Eco and it was developed in Japan. It was now recently made available on the internet and you can purchase it using PayPal and have it shipped to North America. The price is more than you'd pay for a product in North America but the components in the product is what makes the difference. It contains quartz, not cheap resins, like a lot of those $5.00 products out there on the internet. It will last much much longer and you won't have to worry about ruining your nice jewelry. Here's the website for any of those interested:

http://glassskin.net/english/about.html

Hope it works for you too!

Like the others have said it is a result of the water/soap getting trapped under your ring. This happens to me every couple on months, when it does I will leave my ring off for a couple of days so mu finger can heal. Try and make sure your finger and ring is completely dry after you wash your hands. You can get a steroid cream but if you have a baby and nurse you can not use alot of the creams. M.

Most of the time it is because of the soap getting trapped underneath the ring, which overly dries the skin and causes the skin to crack or blister (I normally get the blistering) and then get irritated further. The best defense is to keep your rings clean! This formula was given to me by my jeweler because it doesn't leave any sort of residue.

1 part Mr. Clean
1 part Amonia
3 parts water
You can leave your ring in the mixture overnight, then make sure you rinse thoroughly, and dry the inside. This will not only keep your ring clean but also make those diamonds sparkle like crazy!

My jeweler also said to stay away from the prepackaged cleaner, because over time they do leave a residue and can cause dirt to adhere quickly after cleaning, making you need to clean the ring more often! (making you buy more solution etc...)

Good Luck!
LP

Wow! I love Mammasource! Look at all the responses! All that I would have suggested has already been mentioned in the other responses. I bet it is nice to know you are not alone. :) What part of MA did you move from? We lived up there for a while too. Just curious. :)C.