Nickel (or other metal) allergy

[Dewey]

Is it common or possible to develop a contact allergy to something after years of having no problem with it? Yesterday I developed an extremely itchy rash on the back my left wrist around where the buckle of my watch strap is, and the rash has since spread around my entire wrist and up my arm a ways. Then today I noticed a similar-looking - and equally itchy - rash on my lower stomach just above where my belt buckle sits - it's also spread up my stomach a bit.

I'm assuming it's a reaction to nickel or some other metal that's in both my watch and belt buckle, but I've worn this same watch and belt for the last few years, plus other things that I know contain nickel, without any itching or rash/hives. The pollen levels here have been through the roof lately - could that somehow be contributing to me reacting to something I normally wouldn't react to?

[CMdeux]

Sounds like it is a full allergy-cup issue, yeah.

Probably not true metal allergy, though-- the mechanisms are not the same (that is, pollen is IgE-mediated and Ni sensitivity is not, apparently).  It's probably dermatographic skin on overdrive or something like that.    The other reason that I say that is that generally when Ni allergy appears, it does so fairly slowly-- and earrings are often the first things that people notice.

  Swelling and itching seem to be more common than actual hiving.

Do you wear any jewelry? 

Anything else that you wear snugly against your skin?  Got a leather watchband?  I'll bet that does it as well.

[Dewey]

What exactly do you mean by dermatographic skin? I don't wear much other jewelry other than my watch - just earrings, which so far haven't caused any itching that I've noticed. My watchband is leather, but nothing else snugly against my skin. It's just the two places (around watch and belt) where the rash has shown up so far, which was why I assumed it was the metal.

[rebekahc]

I react to nickle - even low karat gold will set me off. My reaction tends to be bright redness (similar to a burn) and then eventually that will progress to oozing blisters. I first started getting it with earrings and then my watch. Now, I'll get it from the button on my jeans and even tags in my waistband with metallic stitching. In the summer I'll react more strongly and have ended up with red circles on my thighs from the change in my pocket.  Sometimes something won't bother me at first because when it's new it often has a coating that eventually wears off.

But, I agree with CM that the hives and redness where the bands touched you seem more likely to be twitchy skin from pollen and/or dermatographism than a nickle allergy.

[Janelle205]

I'd guess it's probably a pollen count/allergy cup full issue as well.  I know when I am having problems with allergen issues, I'll hive up from all sorts of things that don't normally bother me.  I can do barley and small amounts of tomato in the winter, but spring/summer/fall when I have seasonal allergy issues, that will normally end up with hives.

I also get hives from pressure when my allergy cup gets full.  I'll have hives where my watch was, around the waistband of my pants, the band of my bra, and the cuffs of my socks.  I'll get hives all over my feet sometimes when I wear tennis shoes - I like them to be tied very snugly.  I actually got a few hives earlier today from the pressure of my new walking boot on my broken foot. 

[CMdeux]

Yes, like Rebekah, my Ni allergy results in swelling and BRIGHT red flushing at the contact site, and by far, earrings are the worst culprit, though necklaces, rivets or buttons on clothing, etc. can also do it now, and I cannot wear even so-called "stainless" or 10kt or 14kt gold... and even 18kt has begun bothering me in the past five years or so.

I can't wear my wedding rings for more than a few hours.   

A nickel allergy is something that most frequently: a) appears at the site of longest/most continuous exposure, which for women is most often pierced earlobes, b) worsens slowly with time.

I first noticed problems with earrings when I was in high school,  ~3 decades ago.  At that point, I could not wear most costume earrings, but higher quality sterling was fine for a few years.  Then I was able to get away with coating sterling with nail polish for a couple of years, then not.  By the time I graduated from college, I was beginning to have trouble with 10kt in earrings, though I could still wear it in necklaces, rings, and bracelets all day without any trouble at all.  This was about the time that I was developing a latex allergy.

During graduate school, I wore so little jewelry that I didn't notice any appreciable worsening of the problem.  It was when I was in a professional position afterwards and wearing earrings daily that it got worse-- in a hurry, particularly after pregnancies.  I can only wear my 18kt earrings for a few minutes now, and I know which pairs are more Ni-contaminated than others.  I also have "Ni-free" earrings... that my body says aren't.    

  This is, though, a different mechanism than an IgE-mediated allergy.  I'm apparently one of the lucky people to have both types of responses.  Most people tend to one profile or the other... which means that MOST people with severe IgE-mediated allergies won't ever struggle with this kind of contact sensitivity.  (Just the lucky ones like Rebekah and I, apparently.)  Good to know that anaphylaxis is a ticket out of something, though, isn't it?   

But also-- during times of very high pollen, I will hive at ANY place where clothing or anything else is held tightly against my skin for an extended period of time: bras, waistbands, sock cuffs, bra, etc.  THAT is run amok dermatographism, which I have anyway-- I just naturally have a histamine response in the skin that is completely haywire.  You can literally write on my skin with a toothpick or dull pencil and watch it hive up.  Most of the time (low pollen, relatively empty 'allergy cup') I don't have problems with 'normal' stuff like clothing.

[rebekahc]

On dermatographism...  when I was little, my pedi took his pen - the clicker end, not the writing end - and wrote my name on my back.  It stayed there all day.  He joked to my mom that she could put my name and phone number there and never lose me!  Luckily, I don't hive up often - usually I just get red marks from it.  Mostly it's just the tops of my feet that will hive, but I think that's a combo of adhesive allergy and dermatographism.

[Dewey]

That's interesting about the dermatographism - I had never heard of that before. I'm guessing it probably is a full allergy cup issue right now, and maybe not even related to the watch/belt at all - today the same rash is all up my entire arm, and spread to more of my stomach and back now.

I've broken out in hives from high pollen counts before, but this has seemed a bit different - it's more of a blotchy rash, less swollen than hives. So I don't know.

[Ra3chel]

Yep. I have problems with metals sporadically, and usually during allergy season or when my "cup's" otherwise full--except, ironically, for my medic-alert bracelet, which I react to year-round.

A coat of clear nail polish on whatever surface'll be in contact with my skin helps significantly. YMMV.

[kouturekat]

I am severely allergic to nickel.  However, here's a thought in regard to jewelry.  It can be made of various types of metals.  When a dermatologist does a skin test, it is to lots of contact type of metals or whatever.  My daughter came back with 3 or 4 positives in addition to nickel.  Costume jewelry as well as anything less than 24K carries other things in addition to gold.  It could be nickel, it could be other things too.