Contact Dermatitis
The next time you plan on buying cheap junk jewelry, think again. You never know what your skin may react to, so why experiment? It doesn’t matter if you pay a few bucks extra, as long as you don’t invite skin infections.
What is contact dermatitis?
One of the other kinds of skin rashes that can occur is through the contact of metal. “If you are allergic to a particular metallic substance and get rashes that is known as contact dermatitis” says Dr. Sailesh B Mehta, a Mumbai based general physician. Contact dermatitis is a reaction of the skin tissues that causes irritation, along with pain, swelling, redness and heat in the affected area. If you wore cheap junk jewelry and you’re skin showed signs like this, it’s best to discard the jewelry.
How does it happen?
“Many a times, dirt, dust, pollution stick to your skin with the sweat. If you wear a poor quality metal, the skin rubs with the metal along with the pollutants, that eventually give rise to skin rashes,” says, Dr. Mehta. The pollutants in this case are known as allergens that cause a reaction on the skin.
Outdoors
This mostly occurs among those people who have field job profiles and are more exposed to sunlight and pollutants. Never reuse the same clothes that you have worn for an entire day. The bacteria from the sweat, coupled with the allergens can aggravate the skin allergies.
Solutions
- Consult your family doctor and/ skin specialist.
- Never skip a bath
- Use a soap recommended by skin specialists
- Use medicated talcum powders to absorb the sweat and alcohol based deodorants that can kill germs produced during sweating
- Avoid scratching on the affected area, as this may cause the allergy to spread to the other parts of your skin.
- Apply cooling lotions like Lacto Calamine on the affected area
- Try applying cold compress on the affected area to soothe the itching and burning sensation
- Always buy jewelry from authorized showrooms, as they normally do not compromise on the quality of the metal
