If you are having allergic reactions to some of your jewelry, it is important to know why and what you can do about it.

Nickel Allergy

Most rashes from gold jewelry are a result of nickel allergies. This type of allergy is very common (about 1 in 8 people). The allergic reaction usually shows up as an itchy, red rash where the skin comes into contact with the jewelry. Costume and other low quality jewelry often contain high amounts of nickel. Also, even high quality white gold can contain a lot of nickel (which gives it the color).

If you are experiencing this type of allergic reaction to your gold jewelry, you should consider switching to pure gold jewelry. However, if you really love the look of white gold, you can still wear some types of white gold, but you will have to make sure the alloy used to make it white isn’t nickel. Acceptable alternatives are palladium, platinum, chromium, cobalt, zinc, tin and silver.

Also, most white gold jewelry is also plated with rhodium which does not tend to cause allergic reactions, but if there is nickel underneath and the rhodium plating is thin or worn through, you will likely still get allergic reactions.

What You Can Do

Get jewelry with less nickel content
This is the easiest fix, but can also be the most expensive. The karat rating of your jewelry Continue reading “Why Does My Jewelry Give Me A Rash? :: How To Prevent Rashes From Gold Jewelry” »