I never had metal allergies and wore earrings for about 15 years. Then almost out of the blue I started developing problems ... itchiness and redness. When pain became an issue I knew it was time to give them up for good. Don't miss 'em at all.

DH says try surgical steelroosts or don't wear earrings.

I tried Simply Whispers. They're made with surgical grade stainless posts. Didn't help.

Generally I don't have a problem, even with cheaper earrings but have a few that consistently irritate me - one is even a fine set of garnets in 18k, the others are cheapies. I won't give them up so what I do is dip the post or wire into a triple antibiotic ointment before I put them on, and if they are posts, I dip the backer piece, too. That works for me and I don't get infections from them anymore. But I also don't wear the irritating ones day after day or from first thing in the morning till bed when I do wear them. My day to day, wear all the time earrings are white gold - have you had any experience with that?

Yes I have the same problem so I use cortisone 1%. I rub it in to my lobe until it disappears and the apply it to the earring back and stud before I put them in. Problem solved.

One of the pits of aging is we start to develop allergies to things that never bothered us before. Out of the blue I became allergic to Penicillin and my pharmacist said that's normal.

I bet the same thing is happening to you. I'm back to wearing earrings again, but not often. When I do, I have a constant little itch.

I can still wear some of my older ear-rings that are gold and also ones from reputable sources, but not just anywhere since it seems they aren't meeting the gold qualities.

I can't wear anything silver, but wanted my wedding ring in silver and gold and ended up going with Titanium. I recently started looking to see if there are ear rings in titanium and found some I liked. Just needed to do some more reasearch on ordering from that company online as well as making sure it was just titanium in them and nothing else.

Much cheaper than gold too and I like the color of them better than shiny silver.

I can't wear anything with nickle in it. No gold, or silver. But I can wear anything that says nickle free, for sensitive ears or surgical steel.

I never had any problems with this kind of thing until I bought some diamond earrings - simple studs on a post. Absolutely could not wear them. I had to have them reset in platinum and I now have no problem at all.

I was going to suggest platinum.

lyfia - never heard of titanium being used in earrings!

Thank you all! I didn't know so many others had the same issue.

I have always just worn gold gold, never tried white gold and I don't wear silver-colored jewelry so I haven't tried titanium either.

I think I'll do an experiment and start with surgical steel if I can find some I like, and if they bug me I'll do the cortisone--I never thought of putting it on ahead of time, just after my earlobes were red and puffy. Good idea!

I developed a severe nickel allery in my early twenties and spent the next twenty-five years using Synalar cream, a topic steroid, (a tube lasted me almost two years) and Monet clip on earrings, only for a few hours a day.

Fast forward to titanium availability and I had my ears re- pierced about thirteen years ago, and I did use Simply Whispers, which worked WITH the Synalar cream.

HOWEVER, my ear lobes became very thin--I had moved around during my adulthood and just asked various doctors to renew my prescription, and I looked it up--long term use of steroids can thin the skin.

My husband had diamond studs custom made with platinum but they still bother me if I wear them more than eight hours or so (I never told him that). I'm not sure why.

So, you might try the Synalar cream and Monet brand earrings (pierced or clip) and remove them when you are at home or when you can. Titanium works too but it's hard to find.

Good luck!

I've had metal allergies my whole life. However, I can usually wear 10k gold and up as well as sterling silver and hypoallergenic. If I start to have swollen and itchy ears as I sometimes do, I just take the earring out, clean them, and use neosporin for a couple days. Now if I could only find a solution for the metal on the inside belly of my jeans. I usually have a rash there. It only helps when I tuck in my shirt or wear a bandaid.

For me the metal has to be 18K gold or better. Even then I can only wear posts with backs for a couple of hours. The trick for me seems to wear something that allows plenty of air circulation. My favorites are Charles Garnier hoops that have very thin posts - almost wires - that snap into little clasps. I seldom were anything else.

I gave up wearing earings in my 20s because it got to a point where the burning and itching would start within minutes and I'd have to take them out except my earlopes would be red and swollen for days. I can't wear a nice watch either anymore and I had to start using a canvas type watch band that runs across the back of the watch AND has a plastic clip because even a metal clip on the band will bring me out in an itchy rash, I feel like I'm wearing a kids watch :). I remember reading something years ago though (I gave up on earrings so I never tried it) but it was to paint the post and back with clear nail polish and let it set so that it creates a barrier between the metal and your skin. I don't know how long it's supposed to last though before you have to reapply it.

I have tried the nail polish trick on the inside button of my jeans and it didn't work. I haven't tried it on earrings though.