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Nickel Free Belts and Multiple Metal Allergies

Nickel Free Belts and Multiple Metal Allergies

Occasionally here at NickelFreeBelts.com, we get a complaint that one of our nickel free belts has caused a rash, despite being nickel free. How can this be?!

One thing to keep in mind with nickel allergy is that it is not uncommon for someone that has contact dermatitis to be sensitive to other metals as well. While all our nickel free belts are custom made from a nickel free steel alloy (and certified nickel free by an independent lab), a particularly sensitive person could still find that they are reacting to the nickel free belt buckle. If so, it is probably due to multiple metal allergies!

We highly recommend to these customers that they see their doctor and have a full panel patch test conducted with various metals. In general, the most common allergies occur with nickel, gold (yes, even pure 24k gold can cause allergies!), palladium, cobalt, mercury, chromium, and silver. Less common, but still causing contact dermatitis, are zinc (very commonly used, much like nickel) and tin. It is very uncommon for anyone to ever react to titanium.

If you do have multiple metal allergies, you really want to find out. While it is easy to take off a nickel free belt, it is much harder to remove an artificial hip joint! Knowing if you are allergic to a certain class of metals can prevent much more serious reactions. Can you imagine finding out you, or your child, is allergic to the metal used in orthodontics, or worse, some sort of medical implant? Medical implants can be pace makers, hip joints, stents, screws and pins used in repairing broken bones, cochlear ear implants, and insulin pumps, to name a few. The list is extensive, and a severe allergy to any of these could cause life threatening problems.

So if you ever have a reaction to one of our nickel free belts, please contact us and we will work with you to find a solution.Our belts have a lifetime guarantee to be nickel free!  But please, immediately after, contact your doctor and explore the possibility that you have more than just an allergy to nickel.

Originally published by David Cross on 3-26-2014.