Why do my ears/earrings do this?
A lot of cheap jewellery contains copper. It will either be made of copper, possibly plated with a thin layer of another metal, or be made of a copper alloy. Copper will react with acidic substances that are naturally produced on the surface of your skin, and the result of the reaction will be copper salts that appear green.
It is the same process which turned the Statue of Liberty green.
Other metals can also create residues from these kind of reactions, like the dark tarnish that forms on silver.
Metals like gold and platinum, as well as looking pretty, do not undergo these kind of reactions, which is why they are so valued as a material to make jewellery from.
Long before I got my ears pierced my mother warned me about metal allergies, namely nickel and copper, because she has strong reactions to the metal when she would wear hooks or studs. Luckily, the allergy seems to have bypassed my generation.
Most cheap, or costume earrings are made of inexpensive metals or mixes of metals like nickel or copper. Metals like sterling silver, or gold are generally hypoallergenic, and safe to wear. The same goes for stainless steel, although it’s not everyone.
If you found the perfect pair of cheap earrings, it’s best to buy loose hooks that you can use to replace the cheap ones. You can find these in any crafts store, but you’ll need pliers to bend the metal.
The symptoms of a metal allergy is itching, otok, or redness around the site, occasionally a clear discharge or in severe cases, blistering.
It’s a good idea to be careful with any kind of metal you’re putting in your body. Not just earrings, but tongue, eyebrow, navel, lip, and nose piercings will also react if you’re allergic to the metal.
I’ll tell you what my professionally trained piercer told me to do when I had my ears re-pierced about 2 před lety. Leave the starter earrings in. Clean them a couple of times a day with an antiseptic liquid like Bandaid Brand. Do NOT twist the earrings, this will introduce germs into the open, healing area in your earlobe. Healing will take 2–6 months.
Since I’m an old lady, I gave myself the whole six months and a little bit more before I even attempted to change out my earrings. Following this protocol, I had absolutely no problems and healed beautifully.
And just for the record, she told me also to never have a piercing done with a gun. It rips and tears right through your flesh, doing a lot more damage than her needle and forceps method. I’ve had it done both ways over the years. My piercing gun piercings never healed in 18 měsíce, and I was only in my 30’s then. Her piercing was so clean, I literally walked out of the salon in no pain at all. All I ever felt was the little prick as she passed the needle through. I’m still amazed by that.