Jewelry Allergy

Allergy to jewelry isn't very common however it gets more and more frequent. The article presents information about jewelry allergy and describes the diseases it can cause.



The word allergy often appears in common language. There are many types of allergies e.g. allergy to dust, fur or pollen are the most popular these days, however there are other allergies e.g. allergy to jewelry. Some people may be surprised to hear that but unfortunately it is more and more frequent phenomenon. Human skin reacts to various stimuli in a different way and some people react allergically to certain substances. An allergy to metal jewelry is quite common these days, its symptoms include red skin, irritation and inflammation.

1. Black skin patches are not caused by skin damage, it's rather a reaction to metal particles that settle on skin and produce black layer on skin. The skin usually reacts to gold, silver, brass or zinc. It may be caused by human skin, powders or the ingredients of sweat.

2. Skin inflammation - it is caused by exposing skin to the irritant, in this case a metal. The reaction may affect people of any age, sex and it can have various levels of development. The inflammation is a result of the effect of sodium chloride found in sweat on skin. As a result, metals can emit dangerous substances. Healthy skin manages with such phenomenon perfectly, but any graze can cause the inflammation.

3. Inflammations which are signs of allergy - a person's immune system causes development of inflammations when it fights with allergens that attack the organism. Metals, trace elements, are absorbed through skin and stored or removed from the organism with sweat. Few people suffer from inflammations as a result of the exposure to metals, however, such cases are possible. An allergic reaction is caused by the a person's immune system trying to combat gold, silver or platinum particles found in jewelry.

Allergic reactions can be much more severe because of swimming in salted water, seasoning the meals using fingers. This can trigger allergic reaction of our organism to jewelry. In addition to that, our health condition can have enormous impact on the allergy, substances found in sweat can trigger the reaction to various metals. An allergic reaction can't be totally avoided but we can check what we are allergic to and eliminate them from our everyday life. Jewelry with small amount of silver or gold contains large amounts of allergic substances, so it's better to buy better quality of gold or silver.