14k Gold Wedding Ring, wedding rings and reactions ?
OK, so I never used to wear much jewelry, and even when I did wear
rings, I'd never wear them constantly.
My wedding ring is a 14k gold band, with a celtic knotwork pattern -
pictures here: http://www.robandjen.net/images/w_ring1a.jpg and
http://www.robandjen.net/images/w_ring2a.jpg.
If I wear this ring all the time, not taking it off, I get a bump or
two on my little finger - not my ring finger or my middle finger.
These bumps itch somewhat, and get bigger. If I poke them with a
needle, a clear, sticky liquid comes out. So I quit wearing the ring,
and use neosporin and a bandaid until it goes away.
If I always take it off at night, this doesn't seem to occur.
Any ideas? I never had a problem w/ jewelry before, but I've never
worn any jewelry on a regular basis.
I agree it's basically a little blister from rubbing against the surface.
Mine is textured as well, but it's more filigree, than a raised texture. I
also found I had less irritation right at the "webbing" when I added a
narrower band (my grandmother's engagement ring) behind my wedding ring
(closer to the body) which pushed the wedding ring further down on my
finger - hence less rubbing on the adjacent fingers. You may not want to add
an additional ring there, but looks like you'll either need to build up a
small callous or continue to take it off at night in order to reduce the
irritation.
I can't tell you why it happens, but it happens to me too. I found that
topical Benedryl (you buy it in a stick with a spongy thing on the end) cleared
up the bumps, so it might have been an allergy, and the only thing that kept
them from coming back is taking the ring off every night. The only jewelry I
wear is my watch and my ring, so to keep the ring from getting lost, I take the
watch off, thread it through the ring, and clasp it.
It MAY possibly be caused by an allergy to the gold. Or it may possibly be a
problem caused by something you do, probably several times a day.......washing
your hands (also includes washing dishes etc.) I had that problem for awhile,
while wearing a new ring.....I would either get those tiny blister things that
you mentioned...or I would get a red rash just under the ring. I found that it
was caused by using soap whenever I washed my hands or did something like
dishes. Anytime your hands are in soap and water....and you don't rinse the
soap off of your hands thoroughly. The soap gets under the ring and sometimes
doesn't get rinsed thoroughly enough. So now, I always make sure I rinse my
ring finger really well...and turn the ring several times while rinsing to make
sure I get all the soap out from under it. That seems to have done the job for
me. I haven't had a problem with those tiny blisters or rashes under my ring
since I started rinsing under my ring well.
Sounds like classic dermatological reaction to me. 14k gold can have all
sorts of other metals in it I understand.
I asked for my wedding ring to be high carat since I react to most metals,
and it's fine. I can't wear much else except sterling silver without the
same reaction as you. DH on the other hand went for low carats to give a
harder metal and longer wear.