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By infmom, March 2, 2011 10:53 am

I got my ears pierced for the first time when I was 16. Two friends and I went to the doctor’s office (which is where things like that were done in small-town 1967) and the doctor told us each that he was going to give us a shot to numb the area. Well, he didn’t. That was just so we would think the actual needle going through the earlobe was the anaesthetic shot.

We were told to bring our own earrings and they should be smooth gold balls. I wasn’t able to go shopping for my own earrings (can’t remember why, at this late date) and asked my mother to do it for me, and she paid no attention to what I’d requested and got me some cute little flower shapes instead. The doctor was dubious, but that’s all I had, so he put them in. And that, I think, is how I got my nickel allergy. My ears were crusty and oozing in no time, and I didn’t think my parents would finance another trip to the doctor (my dad had actually forbidden me to get my ears pierced because it “looked cheap”) so I had to fix the problem as best I could by taking the offending earrings out and putting, I shudder to think about this now, short lengths of nylon guitar string through the holes till they healed. Ugh.

Years later, I got a second set of ear holes, and by that time the piercing gun was all the rage (we didn’t yet know how ridiculously un-sterile those things could be) and earrings had evolved considerably, so it was possible to buy non-allergenic earrings off the rack. By the time I got the third set of ear holes done, properly, in a piercing store, the array of body jewelry available was downright amazing.

Since the first time I saw a bellybutton piercing, I’ve thought they were amazingly attractive. I just wish I wasn’t such a tubby old lady–I hate to think what a piercer would have to do to put one of those rings into my bellybutton. The other night at the upscale mall we passed a kiosk that was just loaded with glittery, sparkly, dangly bellybutton rings and I stopped to look at them–but the kiosk girl knew just as well as I did that there wasn’t much chance of a sale there.

Still, I was curious enough to look up bellybutton rings when I got home, just to see what the prices were like. Wow, there are a lot of body-jewelry web sites out there! Ye gods, if we’d only had the internet back in 1967. One of the sites I thought was particularly good was Fresh Trends. It’s not just for belly button rings, but that seems to be one of their specialties and the selection is amazing.

They also have a full line of tattoo aftercare products, earrings (including some cartilage-piercing earrings I’ve never seen before), rings, t-shirts, you name it. Sure wish someone would invent a time machine so I could give my teenage self some way better jewelry to start out with.

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By infmom, August 16, 2010 12:32 pm

Researchers in Germany believe they’ve uncovered the biological basis for nickel allergy.  This might lead to new treatments to prevent the problem in the future.

See the article on WebMD here.

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By infmom, April 5, 2010 10:01 am

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A week or so ago, I bought some new makeup  from a well-known, reputable company whose products I have used many times in the past with no problems at all.  The product I bought was relatively new and had been advertised extensively, and it looked like something I could really use.

The first day I wore it, I had no problems.  The second day, I noticed that my face was a little itchy when I washed it at the end of the day.  The third day…  whoa.  Within minutes of applying the makup my face hurt and itched like crazy.  When I washed the product off, my skin looked like it had been sunburned and my whole face was swollen.  I had to make a mad dash to the drugstore to buy some soothing products to wash and coat my poor flaming skin.

I emailed the company’s customer service department and they were very courteous about it and said they would look into the problem.  They may request that I send the rest of the product back.  I’m satisfied with the response I got, but even so, it took several days for the redness and itchiness to go away.

And this was a product from a well known company whose cosmetics had always served me well before.

Which is why I wanted to talk about allergies again today.  If you use the search box on the right and type in “allergies” you’ll see that this subject has come up before and that people are vitally interested in it.  Because tattoo ink is  injected under the skin, if an allergic reaction occurs, treating it is difficult.  Cosmetic products can be washed off and the skin can be treated and left to heal, but if you’ve got a weepy, oozing, itching tattoo you’ve got big problems.  I went through that with the red ink on my ankle tattoo, and the swelling and itchiness literally took years to go away.  I’m very thankful that it did eventually go away, but I went through a lot of skin-soothing and anti-itch preparations before my skin settled down.  That’s one reason I’m hesitant to get any more ink.  As with the makeup, something that’s applied once may not cause problems.  Apply it again and you’re in trouble.

And that’s why the standard advice to try a patch test isn’t necessarily going to tell you anything.  You can certainly have the artist put a few dots of color in an inconspicuous place first, and wait to see if there’s a reaction–but that application might just be what rouses your body’s defenses to begin an all-out attack on the next application of the ink.

Just about any ink color can cause problems, although black seems to be the least troublesome.  Blue based ink may contain nickel, and a lot of people have nickel allergies (myself included).  Red pigments seem to cause a lot of problems as well, perhaps because of the ingredients used to give the deep red color.

I think it would be a wise idea to ask the artist for the brand name of the ink he or she uses, and to write that information down.  That way, if something happens, you will know that brand’s not good for you, and you have a chance of being able to look up the ingredients and take the information to your doctor.

Yes, I advise going to see a doctor for any serious allergic reaction.  A small raised area or a small amount of itching, OK, you can get away with treating it yourself.  But a weeping, oozing patch ought to be seen and treated by a doctor as soon as you can manage it, a dermatologist if possible.  You do not want to end up with a big hole in your skin or a permanent ugly scar instead of your nice tattoo.

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By infmom, November 20, 2007 12:12 pm

As I mentioned before, I am one of the many people who is sensitive to nickel.

I don’t know whether it’s all because my first pierced earrings were cheap, because up till the time I got my ears pierced, I seldom wore much jewelry. I’ve been trying to think back before that to remember if I ever got the itchies from something I wore, and I just don’t remember.

I had a nice neck chain that was supposed to be “rhodium plated” that made my neck itch like nobody’s business, but I think I got that after I had my ears done. I know I owned it in the same town we lived in when I got my ears pierced for the first time, but that’s as close as I can come on the timeline. Rhodium is related to platinum and it is supposed to be nonallergenic. Whether the manufacturer of the chain was a bit less than honest about the contents of the plating or whether I truly do react to rhodium, I don’t know. I have avoided rhodium plated jewelry like the plague ever since.

Of new holes and old

I got the first ear piercings done when I was sixteen. Two friends and I went to a local doctor’s office to have it done, and we were told to bring our own earrings. Foolishly, I trusted my mother to buy the earrings for me, and she just flat-out didn’t listen to the instructions. I was suposed to have plain gold balls. She bought daisies, made of who knows what. By the time I saw what she’d bought, it was too late to get replacements. The result of that was pretty much a foregone conclusion–I got horrible red crusty patches behind the earrings and ended up having to take them out and put lengths of nylon guitar string through the holes to keep them open while they healed enough to put new earrings in. Ugh.

However, those holes have stayed with me all these years and have never closed up. I can’t say the same for the second set of ear piercings I got. Of course, I got the second set done at an earring shop, with a piercing gun. I don’t think most people knew what a bad idea that was, at the time. Those holes tend to close up if I don’t wear earrings for more than a few days, which is a real nuisance.

The third ear piercings are right next to where the cartilage begins, on the outer edge of my ear. They were done by a professional piercer and (as one would expect) caused me the least pain and the fewest problems. Those holes don’t close up, but they do narrow down.

On finding good earrings

When you’ve got nickel allergy, finding good earrings isn’t always easy. Even the ones labeled “for sensitive ears” sometimes give me problems. I’ve had horrible reactions from ear posts labeled “surgical stainless steel.” On our recent vacation I wore one such pair by mistake and arrived at our destination with the second ear holes hurting and mostly swollen shut. Sigh. I have gold earrings from Tiffany’s in New York, that my aunt gave to me, that I can’t wear without coating the posts with clear nail polish. It seems as though neither price nor material is any guarantee.

So what do I wear when I want to be sure nothing’s going to happen? Titanium ear studs from the Fire Mountain Gems catalog. They don’t hurt. They don’t itch. The problem is, they are small and rather blah looking (even though they come in several colors). I need to find a source for more decorative, guaranteed nonallergenic earrings. If you can’t find ‘em at Tiffany’s, where on earth can you go?

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