I'd have constant itching around my ears, sometimes the ear lobe would swell. After her ears healed, she had her ears pierced again, and wore expensive diamond and gold earrings. I felt bad I'd bought all these earrings. Her story is familiar to many women. Studies of nickel plated earrings show that 10 to 15 percent of females suffered contact dermatitis, according to Dr. Barry Asman, an allergist at the Allergy and Asthma Care Center in Monroeville.
Physicians say sufferers are most likely to be allergic to nickel, a common jewelry filler.
According to new research from the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, ear piercing can cause allergic contact dermatitis-also known as nickel rash. The condition develops when small amounts of nickel from the metal pin that preserves a newly pierced hole are carried into the body through the bloodstream as the wound heals.