Stephanie asked why she was getting a rash and itch from her white gold ring.

Her reaction could be due to a couple of causes. One is that she is allergic to the nickel alloy that is used primarily as the metal to make white gold. It has been said that there may be about 15% – 20% of the world’s population that has some degree of allergic reaction to nickel, some a lot worse than others.

One possible solution to this problem is to use a white gold that does not use nickel. There are white gold jewelry that uses other metals other than nickel to produce the white color although it is not as abundantly available.

Other alternatives are to plate the white gold with Rhodium that will help to insulate a person from the white gold. It is a relatively inexpensive fix.  Re-plating with rhodium just has to be done periodically as necessary. Another option is that you can change your setting to platinum or palladium, both of which are hypo-allergenic.

The second possible cause of the rash could be a fungus infection because of the dampness under the ring that creates a condtion that is condusive to fungal growth. Anti- fungal creme will usually alleviate this problem.

Russell Oshita, the diamonddude

The Diamond Specialists  Inc.

Diamonds Hawaii