NICKEL ALLERGY

Nickel allergy is a common cause of allergic contact dermatitis; it is an itchy rash that appears where your skin touches or stay in contact for a long time with a usually harmless substance. 8Nickel allergy is often associated with earrings and other jewelry. But nickel can be found in many everyday items, such as coins, zippers, eyeglass frames, cosmetics, detergents, and even some electronics, including cell-phones and laptops.

CAUSES

The exact cause of nickel allergy is unknown. As with other allergies, nickel allergy develops when your immune system views nickel as a harmful, rather than harmless substance. Normally, your immune system only reacts to protect your body against bacteria, viruses or toxic substances.

Once your body has developed a reaction to a particular agent (allergen) — in this case, nickel — your immune system will always be sensitive to it. That means anytime you come into contact with nickel, your immune system will respond and produce an allergic response.

RISK FACTORS

Certain factors may increase your risk of developing nickel allergy, including:

• Having ear or body piercings..
• Working with metal.
• In addition, people who have regular exposure to nickel while doing "wet work" — as a result of either sweat or frequent contact with water — may be more likely to develop nickel allergy. These people may include bartenders, people who work in certain food industries and domestic cleaners.
• Other people who may have an increased risk of nickel allergy include metalworkers, tailors and hairdressers.
• Being female.Females are more likely to have a nickel allergy than are males. This may be because females tend to have more piercings. A recent study found that overweight women seem to have an even higher risk of nickel allergy.
• Having a family history of nickel allergy
• Being allergic to other metals.

SYMPTOMS

An allergic reaction (contact dermatitis) usually begins within hours to days after exposure to nickel. The reaction may last as long as 2 to 4 weeks. The reaction tends to occur only where your skin came into contact with nickel, but sometimes may appear in other places on your body.

Nickel allergy signs and symptoms include:

• Rash or bumps on the skin
• Itching, which may be severe
• Redness or changes in skin color
• Dry patches of skin that may resemble a burn
• Blisters and draining fluid in severe cases

PREVENTION

The best strategy to prevent a nickel allergy from developing is to avoid prolonged exposure to items containing nickel. If you already have a nickel allergy, the best way to prevent an allergic reaction is to avoid contact with the metal. However, it's not always easy to avoid nickel because it's present in so many products. Home test kits are available to check for nickel in metal items.

The following tips may help you avoid nickel exposure:

• Wear hypoallergenic jewelry
• Choose a piercing studio carefully
• Use substitute materials
• Create a barrier

HOMOEOPATHIC TREATMENT

Homeopathy is highly effective in the treatment of allergies and fully capable of stimulating the organism to heal to the point of complete relief from all allergy symptoms. Homeopathy, addresses the cause of the sensitivity to allergens at the deepest possible level; avoiding the or resorting to suppression of symptoms through ongoing symptomatic treatment becomes unnecessary once this sensitivity has been eliminated.

SULPHUR: Sulphur is a high grade medicine in treatment of metal allergy. It is best suited to person where standing is the worst position for sulphur patients, it is always uncomfortable. Dirty, filthy people, prone to skin affections. Aversion to being washed. Dry, scaly, unhealthy; every little injury suppurates. Freckles. Itching, burning; worse scratching and washing. Pimply eruption, pustules, rhagades, hang-nails. Excoriation, especially in folds. Feeling of a band around bones. Skin affections after local medication. Pruritus, especially from warmth, is evening, often recurs in spring-time, in damp weather.

BOVISTA: Has a marked effect on the skin, producing eruption like eczema, also upon the circulation, predisposing to hćmorrhages; marked languor and lassitude. Itching on getting warm. Eczema, moist; formation of thick crusts. Pimples cover the entire body; scurvy; herpetic eruptions. Pruritus ani. Urticaria on waking in the morning, worse from bathing.

MERCURIUS: Pimples around the main eruption. Itching, worse from warmth of bed. Crusta lactea : Complaints increase with the sweat and rest; all associated with a great deal of weariness, prostration, and trembling. A human "thermometer". Best adapted for light-haired persons; skin and muscles lax.