Earrings and itchy ears

[GoinSouth]

Stopped wearing earrings on a regular basis a few years ago due to hyper sensitivity and red, itchy ears after just an hour or so. More recently I decided to give it another go as holes were starting to close over and this time, thought about dipping the earring hook into antihistamine cream, and rubbing the cream on the holes in my ears. So far, both silver and gold seem to have no effect on my ears any more and I can now wear earrings all day long, all night long and there's no reaction!

Whenever I change earrings I always put a small blob of the cream onto my ears and again, dip the hook into the cream before putting them in. Game changer!! Hope this is useful for anyone else who has suffered from itchy reactions to earrings. (I had previously tried, hypoallergenic earrings; painting them with nail varnish, but neither worked, until now and antihistamine cream - the stuff you use for insect bites ;-) from Superdrug.

What a great suggestion! I shall try this, thanks!

Thats a great idea! I've been at my wits end for ages now, as I love wearing earrings but my ears end up red, itchy and a bit gunky after an hour. Will dig out my Antihistamine cream now. Thanks OP 😊

Brilliant idea! I will definitely give this a whirl

Great tip.
Also, try M&S earrings, all “skin kind”: they solved the sore, itchy ear problem for me.

Which cream?

Anti-histamine cream.. the cream that you can use on insect bites.. it's from Boots - "Boots Bite & Sting relief antihistamine cream".

Have you tried implant grade titanium earrings? They aren’t supposed to cause any allergies.
I used antihistamine cream on a wasp sting and ended up getting a rash from the cream.

Do you get this problem with real gold earrings? I cannot wear anything else.,

Ooh good tip, thanks!

Try the [[https://solacejewellery.co.uk/
Solace jewellery range]] - guaranteed allergy free or your money back. I got some last week and have just slept with earrings in for the first time ever!!

Oh brilliant- will give this a go have some beautiful diamond studs I can no longer wear due to ears reacting after no reaction for about 20 years.

Adding a recommendation for these (filter by titanium)
I've tried every type of earring including solace and hypoallergenic etc and the titanium ones from here haven't made me react at all. I nearly cried realising I could wear earrings again! They've been in for months now and no issues

https://www.withbling.com

I suspect I have a nickel allergy- which is apparently fairly common and used in a great deal of earring, sunglasses and 'fashion' jewellery. Sometimes under a layer of plating- but when that wears off- the allergy starts.

I can wear solid gold and silver without issues, but plated items or cheaper ones- no. My ears itch, get red and irritated. Also, if metal on a belt it touching my stomach I get the same reaction.

A good tip to try the antihistamine cream, but a better option would be to avoid the metals that irritate you in the 1st place.

I use germolene for this reason. Works a treat.

I mainly wear solid gold and silver, rarely 'fashion' jewellery because of the allery reason, yet even with the purest metals I would still have an allergic reaction. Only with my ears, nowhere else. So for me, to be able to use the antihistamine cream and know that for me it works, is fabulous! I was at the point of selling all my earrings! Antihistamine may not work for everyone, but as I said, it's a game changer for me.

Yes, I had allergic reactions to pure gold, silver etc.. and just gave up for years until I noticed a few weeks ago that the holes had started to close up. So just thought, why not give the antihistamine a go and since then, I've worn a pair or gold earrings 24/7 for a few days and now a pair of 925 sterling silver earrings 24/7 for almost two weeks and not a single problem.

When I had my ears pierced the piercer said only wear implant grade titanium or perhaps gold. However it has to be certain types of gold only. Lots of gold is contaminated with other metals such as copper which many people are allergic to.
most piercers only use titanium.

I'm going to try this, thank you! I've got to the stage where I can't even wear gold or silver earrings. It's a pain as I've loads of pairs. I'll shove a pair in and see if I can force them right through. It's been years so I expect the holes will have mostly closed up.

I never wear silver. It tarnishes and it’s not gold!

I've just bought some Solace earrings in their sale, and for the first time in years, my ears haven't reacted at all. I've even slept in them!

Good luck :-) Hope it works. Same as you - was about to get rid of all my earrings!! Today I've tried a pair of ethnic brass (think that's the metal) in my ears, with some cream on, and we'll see... fingers crossed!

I couldn't wear cheap earrings for years but something has changed and now I can! No idea what that shift was - I didn't wear any for a long time, occasionally sterling silver which would be ok for a few hours before burning - but a couple of years ago (during lockdown) I realised I'd been wearing a cheap pair all day and haven't looked back!

Back in the dark ages when I got my ears done I was told to help stop irritation redness etc. to wet my fingers (I use thumb and index finger) with saliva and just wipe it on my lobes, same with earring posts, for all metals not just gold silver.

I have never been a problem wearing anything (and I leave costume jewellery in to sleep in) I also passed this on to a friend whose ears were in such a state due to earrings, and it worked.

May not be the most scientific or some could say hygienic, but I never put earrings in before doing this.

Been looking at the Solace website and their earrings look lovely.

I bought my first implant grade titanium earrings recently. I was really nervous because I have only been able to wear solid gold for years. It’s a dream, no reaction at all, and really affordable compared to gold.

@GoinSouth

Is it the 1% hydrocortisone? That's the only bite and sting relief cream I can find.