Diamonds Guide to Jewelry and Allergies

Choosing just the right jewelry for you goes beyond how good it looks on you, or how good it makes you feel. Some people have allergies to certain metals, so it helps to understand what to look out for if your skin is extra-sensitive, or you are prone to allergies. In our Spence Diamonds showrooms, we’re always ready to answer your questions about how metal allergies can affect you, but in the meantime here’s a bit of Metal Allergy 101:

Most often, rashes and infections on your skin caused by jewelry are a result of nickel allergy. Ever had an itchy red spot under a jean stud or watch buckle? Maybe when you had your ears pierced you developed an unusually uncomfortable reaction?

Nickel is the metal that causes the most rashes. And it is also quite commonly used in almost anything metal, for e.g.: jewelry, kitchen utensils, scissors, paper clips, keys and of course the coin by the same name. Nickel has a more whitish appearance, so such metals as white gold, silver and all kinds of silver-coloured metals (other than sterling silver) can and likely do contain some amount of nickel. 18 or 24 carat yellow gold do not contain nickel, but 10-carat yellow gold may have traces of nickel, too.

How Do You Know if You Have an Allergy to Nickel?

The first sign of nickel allergy is red and itchy skin, in the areas that have come in contact with metal, such as under a ring or necklace. Later on, tiny water blisters appear, making the skin moist and even oozy, and can even cause it to peel off. At this point, you probably want to be searching for jewelry that cooperates with your skin a little better. If the condition carries on for a long time, your skin may become red, scaly and cracked, and the rash can spread to other areas of your skin that have never even been in contact with nickel! So it’s worth doing your homework on how to avoid such a reaction.

Some Good News, Some Bad News

The bad news first: Once you’ve become sensitive to nickel, you’re likely to stay that way for the rest of your life. The good news is that over time, you may become less sensitive to nickel allergy. But there is hope as there are still plenty of metals that you can safely wear, including 18 and 14 carat gold, sterling silver, and a number of other hypo-allergenic metals. In addition, if you discover an allergy to nickel with an existing piece of your jewelry, Spence Dimaonds offers an electrochemical process called rhodium plating that coats the ring and protects your finger from exposure to nickel. It is a very easy and very common process that will not harm your ring in any way.