Men’s wedding bands and wedding rings are meant to be worn everyday and need to be designed accordingly. Rings are exposed to water, sweat, scratches on a daily basis. To withstand the daily wear and tear, most mens wedding rings and bands are made of 14k or 18k gold, sterling silver, platinum or titanium. Pure gold, 24k gold doesn’t have any other elements and is very soft. 14k and 18k gold or not pure gold, 14k gold is 58.3% pure and 18k is 75% pure, with the rest comprised of other alloys such as silver, zinc, copper, palladium and nickel. It’s these other alloys that cause the allergic reactions, nickel being the biggest culprit, but also the main element given to gold to make it more corrosion resistant and durable. What options are available in Hypoallergenic Jewelry? There are many options in hypoallergenic jewelry. Sterling silver, platinum and titanium rings are not only beautiful alternatives to gold, but they are more pure. Titanium rings are the most pure and 100% hypoallergenic.
Platinum – Platinum is known for being the rarest and the heaviest of the precious metals. It’s also the most expensive. It’s typically 90-95% pure and weighs twice as much as gold. It also contains other alloys including copper, zinc cobalt and palladium. It doesn’t tarnish like gold and doesn’t loose its luster over time, but it can be scratched and patina over time. There are many positives for platinum, but it’s not for everyone. Price is a barrier to many, and some men don’t like the heaviness of platinum, others love it. Titanium Rings – titanium mens wedding rings are becoming more popular. Titanium is 99+% pure and is inert and therefore completely corrosion resistant. It does not react to salt water, sunlight, or any body chemistry and it is 100% hypoallergenic. Titanium rings never tarnish like silver or gold and are more durable than any other element.
A local jeweler should easily be able to refinish, buff up nicely and rhodium plate your ring. The look is good. The advantage to you is the rhodium provided a safety layer between the nickel in the mens wedding bands and your sensitive skin! The rhodium works very well when the plating is done correctly. You can expect the rhodium to wear off in time but you should get 6 months to a year of wear before the ring should be plated with rhodium again. We often do this service for ladies who love white gold earrings but have problems. With yellow gold problems, we plate the parts touching the skin and it works until the rhodium eventually wears away. Is your ring white gold? If so, the rhodium plating by a local jeweler should ease the problem immensely and the surface will last a fair amount of time before redoing is needed. If the ring is yellow, there are likely environmental issues here, including swimming pool chemicals and salty air (if living near the ocean). Chemicals will often build up in a microscopic way and lead to skin reactions or smudges. Salty air can lead to a build up of residue which will cause smudges or even some sensitive skin reactions. For yellow gold, the solution is difficult but involves either avoiding the environmental issues or cleaning the ring quite often (every couple of days) with a good gentle scrub with a gentle dish detergent and rinsing well.
When you get a skin rash after contact with an allergy-causing substance (an allergen), doctors call it allergic contact dermatitis. It can be a devastating condition. People with contact dermatitis can get a very itchy rash from head to toe or in a confined area. If it’s on the hands and feet it can cause a person not to be able to perform daily functions comfortably. Determining whether or not your rashes or irritations are the result of an allergy to nickel is pretty simple. If it is something you’re wearing that’s causing you to break out, you should stop wearing that item. This should allow the rash to go away and not return unless you wear that particular item again. Also, your dermatologist can give you a patch test. This is done by using a panel of common allergens. The doctor puts a small amount on a patch of skin to see whether there is a reaction. Sometimes people find themselves suddenly allergic to jewelry that they have been wearing for as much as five years.The reason for the delayed allergic reaction is not always clear. However a sudden change in sensitivity indicates that their may have been a change in your body chemistry, or a change in what you are putting “on” your skin such as cosmetics. Another reason might be some outside environmental change.
