Friday, June 29, 2012

Red Ear Lobes

I wore earrings for about 15 years after my ears were pierced.  Then I began to have occasional infections.  Besides, at that point it was hard to manage jewelry.  You moms known how it is.  For one thing, babies would pull on the earrings.  For another thing, when you can't even go to the bathroom by yourself, taking the time to put on jewelry just doesn't happen so easily. 

So, eventually, I got back to wearing earrings.  Or trying to.  But they weren't comfortable.  Every few years I decide that I want to wear those pretty, dangly, dress-up things again.  So today I wore them at work.  For three whole hours.  Then I couldn't take the pain any more.  When I took the earrings out, my ear lobes were red and swollen. 

Why?  [pout]

I guess I should remember this the next time I get the goofy idea to wear earrings.  Maybe I should do something really outlandish and get rid of my earrings so I won't be tempted. 

Bummers.

7 comments:

  1. High-quality stainless steel is amazing. I had almost no issues with swelling or infection when I used the stainless steel hoops. I didn't even take them out for nearly three years!

    Regular earrings, however, give me the redness, puffiness, and infection.

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  2. The only earrings I have found that don't bother my ears (other than real gold or silver and can't risk owning/losing those) are the earrings sold by Claire's (in most malls) that state "nickel free" on the package.

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  3. I can't wear anything but gold or silver. The cheap earrings make my ears infected. It's disappointing to not be able to afford a large selection of earrings, but wearing one or two pairs that don't hurt is much better than the pain of infection.

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  4. I think (?) the pair I was wearing were labeled for people with allergies (which I assumed meant they were nickel-free) but it's been a long time and I may be remembering wrong.

    Rachel, would you want to loan me a pair of high-quality stainless steel so that I could test them? When I started having problems with my ears a couple of decades ago, I remember that even my 14K gold posts that I started with still bothered my ears. So I'm not sure that getting pure metals would help. But I won't know unless I try.

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  5. I can bring a pair when I come up next time, though I might need a reminder. They're 18-gauge, which is the larger end of normal-sized earring (they range from 20-18), and the ends screw on.

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  6. I find that silver doesn't bother my ears, but some gold does and most earrings on the cheaper ends. I leave my silver ones in my ears for weeks or months at a time with no problems. I hope you find a solution. Earrings can be fun. :)

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  7. And if you've had them a while, you might want to disinfect them.

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