Jewellers – ring allergy

The Jeweller is right

Nickel in Jewellery
In the UK, jewellers have to be aware of their obligations under the Dangerous Substances and Preparations (Nickel) (Safety) Regulations 2005 which is designed to prevent people becoming sensitised to nickel, which can lead to allergic contact dermatitis.

Because trace elements of nickel can be found in many precious jewellery alloys and particularly in costume jewellery, jewellers have to be confident that when they are designed to be worn in direct and prolonged contact with the skin, eg a ring, necklace, bracelet, watchback or parts of earrings (but not a brooch) any nickel which is released from an item of jewellery is within permitted levels. For piercing post assemblies, this release level is a maximum of .2 micrograms per square cm per week. For other products (ie not piercings) it is a maximum of .5 micrograms per square cm per week. The tests are carried out under controlled conditions in a commercial testing laboratory or in certain assay offices.

Sometimes alloys which could release nickel are plated with lacquer, gold or silver to prevent the nickel being released in contact with skin. In such cases the plating must be tested with abrasives to simulate two years of wear before they are tested for nickel release.

BJA does not recommend use of terms such as “nickel free” , “hypoallergenic” or “nickel safe” because items which release small amounts of nickel can comply with the regulations but could be in contravention of the Trades Descriptions Act. Retailers who use such terms may have a poor understanding of the regulations and their obligations.

Suppliers have a duty of care to their customers and need to be able to show that they have exercised due diligence, either by carrying out their own tests under a control system or by understanding when they can rely on the tests carried out by their suppliers.

Maybe shes really that sensitive and it is a nickel allergy, but actually reactions like that can last that long and be that bad (I see it in my job) one of our girls gets it and wearing her rings really makes it worse, even though its nothing to do with the jewellery. Bless her, must be awful not to be able to wear your rings!

I would also say it may be a reaction to Nickel...

Quick googling brought me to this page: http://www.assayoffice.co.uk/latest-news-and-press/nickel-testing-%E2%80%93-how-does-the-new-legislation-affect-me

It seems there is some legislation but it doesn't sound like Nickel is illegal?

I also found this article, in a comment someone suggests applying clear nail polish to the inside of the ring, maybe worth a try?

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703954904574595943916863808

It might be worth your wife seeing a dermatologist and or having a skin test to see if it a nickel allergy. As others have said it isn't illegal to have nickel within jewellery but no more than a certain amount should be released. The other thought is although it is very rare some people are actually allergic to gold itself.

The rash is likely to look the same whether it's nickel, soap or some other metal allergy.

It might be worth going to a jewellers shop in the Indian/Pakistani area of your city if you have one. Indian jewellers usually sell 22ct gold which is the purest you can buy here. That will have less parts of the other metal fillers that may be causing this allergy.

OH has this problem too, he was told it was trapped water so he started taking it on/off for absolutely everything involving water but it didn't stop it randomly flaring up.

He ended up painting clear nail polish on the inside of his wedding band. I couldn't watch!! Although so far, so good and thankfully he didn't get it bloody everywhere.

My cousin is allergic to everything except platinum and therefore had to have her engagement and wedding ring made out of this

I had the same thing but only once I started wearing a wedding ring too. My ER is 9ct and wedding ring 18ct. I put it down to trapped water etc.

Mine stopped when I stopped wearing them in bed. I take them off each night and have had no issue since. I wear an eternity ring too now and didn't have any issue when I started wearing that too.

Is she allergic to nickel in any other jewellery? Obviously a lot of costume jewellery contains nickel so would've thought she'd suffer on other parts of her body too.

Hi there,

i am the same with jewellery, always have been. I can't wear earrings, bracelets etc and I would only keep a necklace on for a couple of hours as then my skin starts to burn/sting. I can wear my watch for a bit but too much wear and I get an angry red mark the shape of it! Does your wife react to other jewellery?

I have been married before and ended up not wearing my rings. I have gone for a palladium wedding ring this time but I don't know if it will be ok. I have sort of resigned myself to the idea I will wear them on formal occasions only. That said, my engagement ring has been ok so far, but I don't wear it all the time and haven't had it long.

Hope you find a solution!

I have this but not from the metal itself - I have contact dermatitis which is made worse by the ring as stuff gets underneath it and I have an indent in my engagement ring. It can be so bad that my finger blisters and can come from hand wash, soaps, moisturisers, washing up etc.

It ay be that she is getting traces of these underneath the ring - even if being careful.

Buy her a non metal ring (saferingz do black ones!) and get her to wear it for a while to see if the reaction is the same? Then you'll know it's definitely her ring.

I couldn't wear my first engagement ring or wedding ring (yellow gold bought 15ish years ago).

With this in mind I chose Palladium this time and so far my engagement ring hasn't caused a moment's trouble.