Weird earring hole thing

[LunanMoon]

I've had my ears pierced for years, no issues. Recently my earring holes have been itching, they're crusting over and skin peels off them. I haven't put earrings in for weeks and have been moisturising them; I also tried a hydrocortisone/Canestan cream. Today I put earrings in for the first time in a while. I take them out and they're covered in gunk. What's wrong with my ears?!?! Help! and thank you!

Palladium allergies are an increasing thing

Or the rhodium plating could have worn away.

athenaallergy.com/blogs/nickelallergynews/17228820-is-sterling-silver-jewelry-really-safe-if-you-have-nickel-allergy

I've got some silver studs in today, cleaned them all up with surgical spirit. Will see how I go. They're not irritating me at the moment but I expect by end of the day it will be gunk central. Holes v itchy and red and flaky overnight, sometimes feel lumpy. Am coming round more and more to the idea it's a metal allergy. Though it's so random how I've been wearing them for years with no problems!

Surgical steel might be your best bet if you are developing allergies to other metals.
If you gave your ears and your earrings a good clean before putting them back in, then I would suggest leaving them alone as much as possible. If they do get a bit crusty, dissolve some salt in boiling water and allow to cool before gently cleaning around the piercing with a cotton bud. And then leave them alone some more!

Thank you! Should I leave them in overnight do you think @atowelandapotato? I usually take mine out over night

I started reacting to yellow gold earrings after years of wearing them. They became sore, gunky and would bleed. I got titanium earrings and they have been great ever since.

If they are small/comfortable enough to sleep in, then yes, I would leave them in. If they don’t start clearing up in a couple of days, then it’s probably a reaction the the metal. But it might just be the constant in/out/fiddling that is causing the ongoing issues so a couple of days left alone should help work out which it is.

I have had this just from not wearing earrings for a while. They are gunky and sore but clear up.

I have also had a fungal rash that was only around my ear piercings and had to use topical anti-fungal cream. I can't wear earrings when pregnant either

No issues the last year or so. Can wear anything again. Gold, silver, whatever they make cheap hoops and Dangly ones from. When they've played up I couldn't use anything, so wasn't an allergy per se

I've actuallly got some antibiotic cream I could try. I really hope this goes away and I'm not allergic. Might steer clear of white gold from now on

Try titanium or even see if you can get hold of the plastic ones that people with piercings use for scans or invisible jewellery at work.

Both of those shouldn't cause a reaction as they are non reactive and you can (as long as you have properly cleaned) test with them for a metal allergy test.

Surgical spirit drys skin you need to be very careful with it as it could cause the red irritation and other things you're describing. I use it on all my ear piercings but you do have to be careful with it. Try boiled cooled water and a clean cloth on the skin and don't put earrings in while surgical spirit is wet on the jewellery. Also don't only clean posts as all of it needs cleaned if it is sitting next to and in your ear for hours.

Try to stop using creams (unless the gp gives you one) as they can enter the hole and block or cause issues and sometimes infections.

Also I wonder if the earrings have started to shed their plating (not enough to see though) which would expose your ears to the other metals.

Finally try a longer bar or hoop just as an experiment incase it's a reaction to the lobe sitting between the front of the earring and the backs which obviously adds pressure but also heat and sweat. Where as hoops or longer bars the only contact is through the hole itself.

Obviously not at the moment, but do you normally swim much? The chemicals they use in pools can react with one of the metals in white gold alloy and cause a skin reaction, my sister had similar and had to stop wearing her wedding ring :-(

I think you need to try one thing at a time, so maybe give it a few days to settle (just using salt water if you need to gentle clean away surrounding crust), if then doesn’t work. Then try the cream for a couple of days, then maybe try some stainless steel jewellery if that still doesn’t help?

probably sebum from the ear, I have a measles hole in the back of my ear (not visible) I wash it with toner and a toothpick, if I dont do it every day it stinks. Nobody has ever seen it but its about the same size as a piercing hole.

Wear 22 carat gold if you can. Gold never (rarely) infects. If not try to get 18 carat gold. Any other metal is a hit/miss when it comes to individuals. Sometimes I react to metals even if I've worn them before. Except gold.

My DD had her ears pierced last year, we went for gold studs thinking they would be the best but she had endless issues with them. Piercing shop swapped them for stainless steel, still had issues. Eventually titanium studs healed them up, it's the only completely hypoallergenic metal apparently.
She wears silicon retainer studs for school, you can big bag of them dirt cheap from amazon and she can keep them in indefinitely with no issues. I'd recommend trying them to keep your holes open whilst your skin issue heals up.
It could be something as simple as a new shampoo or hair spray (or anything you use) getting on the skin. Piercing holes can produce a white substance that is dead skin cells and sebum, but that is different to pus which indicates an infection. Redness suggests there might be some infection there. You could try bathing them with saline solution.

Just took my silver ones out to have a look and apply saltwater as pp suggested - they're looking great at mo. Don't know if this will last mind, but if it does...it looks like the white gold might be the culprit.

Ps just updating in case anyone is invested in my gunky ears

Hi @LunanMoon - how are your ears now?

@ATowelAndAPotato you are so kind to ask! They're much better thanks, still quite dry and flaky and red but far less gunky and itchy. I've been putting piercing spray on the holes and the earring posts, wearing them all day and switched to silver. I think it's a reaction to the white gold! They were my favourite earrings too 😣