Have you ever experienced these red inflamed bumps on your skin, resembling a rash, particularly when you wear specific jewelry, like nickel?
While nickel is a versatile metal widely used in various industries due to its strength, corrosion resistance, and ability to form alloys. The majority of nickel is used in stainless steel production, making it essential for construction, kitchenware, medical tools, and industrial equipment. It is also a key component in strong, heat-resistant alloys used in jet engines, turbines, and power plants. It plays a crucial role in battery technology, appearing in rechargeable batteries such as nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), and lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. But that being said, it can also be used for plating and coatings to prevent corrosion in products like coins and jewelry.
Typically, nickel isn’t that dangerous in small amounts, but it can become hazardous to human health, particularly through prolonged exposure or in certain forms. While small amounts of nickel are naturally present in the environment and even in some foods, excessive exposure can lead to health issues.
Skin contact with nickel, especially in jewelry or coins, can cause allergic reactions such as rashes and dermatitis in sensitive individuals, and this is what we wanted to highlight today.
Dermatitis is a general term for skin inflammation, often causing redness, itching, swelling, and irritation. It can be triggered by various factors, including allergies, irritants, or underlying conditions. There are different types of dermatitis, such as contact dermatitis, which occurs when the skin reacts to an allergen or irritant (like nickel in jewelry), and atopic dermatitis (eczema), a chronic condition often linked to genetics or environmental factors. While dermatitis is not contagious, it can be uncomfortable and, in severe cases, lead to blisters, cracking, or infection if the skin becomes broken.
While typical treatment is to turn to ointments, creams, sometimes even anti histamines, the best way to go about this is to find the source of nickel that one is exposed to and remove it, as well as support emunctory pathways. Many times when the skin is suffering, it’s because other detox pathways are struggling to properly eliminate, such as the kidneys, liver, or colon.
Nickel specifically has an affinity to accumulate and damage the kidneys, which ironically is where we clear histamine from the bloodstream, preventing excessive accumulation that could trigger allergic or inflammatory responses. If kidney function is impaired (as in chronic kidney disease or heavy metals like nickel), histamine levels may rise, potentially leading to itching (pruritus), inflammation, or worsened allergic reactions.
Question now is how would one know if nickel is the root cause to one’s dermatitis?
Bets thing to do is to run a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) by clicking the link here with us and we can then see what your nickel levels are.
In the mean time however, nutrients that can help to protect you from nickel toxicity or accumulation are vitamins such as vitamin C and B6 as well as B12. Turning to those can be helpful until you figure out the root cause of the problem!