earings

If you haven't already told your parent, please do so they can monitor it for infection.

What type of earring are you attempting to wear? When I had my ears first pierced I tried wearing some of the cheaper fashion earrings and constantly had a bad infection from them no matter how much alcohol I used. I started wearing nothing but 14k gold earrings, not gold plated, and the infections went away.

My body must have an odd chemistry. I am unable to wear metal watches either. In just a few weeks, all the metal plating on the band and back of the watch gets completely removed. Had to switch to leather or plastic bands and coat the back of the watch with clear nail polish.

Here's an article from Kids Health on how to take care of an infected ear after you've had your ears pierced. There is an audio version to listen to if you'd rather listen to than read it. The part about treating an infection is on page 3.

http://kidshealth.org/kid/grow/girlstuff/pierced_ears.html#

I put triple antibiotic ointment on the posts of earrings as it is milder than alcohol and stays in the pierced hole.

My body chemistry is changing and I am developing metal allergies, which makes me unhappy.

I have the same problem as Butrflynet...some type of metal allergy. Being limited to 14K gold is both a blessing and a curse, of course. I'd love to be able to wear some of the cute/stylish earrings with nickel-plated posts for more than an hour, but I've stopped even trying.

I don't have pierced ears, but my ear lobes can begin itching from some costume jewelry clip earrings if they contain nickel.

If one can't afford solid 14kt gold earrings, they can try earrings that have only 14kt gold posts, or stainless steel posts which are hypoallergenic. Those can be very stylish and trendy, and fairly low cost. You just have to check the card that holds the earrings to be sure it says "hypoallergenic posts".

I tried the "hypoallergenic" earrings. The problem I had was that the cheap metal on the base of the earring rubbed up against my ear and the skin got irritated and infected that way. Tried the surgical steel posts and the gold posted earrings. I finally stopped playing around with it and invested in a nice looking set of fully 14k gold earrings with both the post and body of the earring made from gold. That's the only thing that cured the infections.

When I wasn't willing to pay the higher prices for the 14k gold earrings I just stopped wearing earrings and let the holes close up. The vanity wasn't worth the constant soreness from the ear infections.

I couldn't even wear 14 carat gold earrings, and developed keloids (lumps) and had to have shots for those (cortisone, if I remember correctly). Which was all too bad, as I love earrings in general, and the pierced type in particular.

Anyway, it sounds like our poster may have an infection in process.