Random question, then I swear I'll shut up and stop spamming posts

[keilexandra]

If surgical steel is hypoallergenic, how come my ears still get infected (50% of the time) when I wear steel-hooked earrings and 25% of the time when I wear sterling silver? No idea on gold because I don't like the yellow color and find it silly to pay for white gold when sterling silver looks the same and costs less.

Comments

[fireriven.livejournal.com]

Apparently this question is more complicated than a quick Google search can handle and, while I did find a very promising article/medical study, it wasn't free but available only for $31.50.

One thing that stood out to me from another article I found, was: "Surgical stainless steel rarely causes allergic skin reactions; however, not all stainless steel products are nickel-free." So perhaps that is a factor?

Also, where is the piercing? In the flesh or your ear, the cartilage, what? The location can have an effect on the rate of recurrent infection.

[keilexandra]

It's a normal earlobe piercing, first in each ear. When they get infected, there's pus and you can feel a "lump" around the hole. I've never had a skin reaction to anything (unless you count turning green, but that's only ever happened once with my watch that I wear daily). Maybe it's different for piercings? Don't know if the hole is completely healed over although it's been 3-4 years.