You may have bacteria inside the ring, or you could have a metal allergy. Some people have told us their ring was fine for a long time and then, all of a sudden, a rash developed on the finger where the ring was. The finger can get itchy. We think the following observations are possible reasons:

If a rash develops after you have worn the ring for some time...

Let's suppose you have been wearing your ring for sometime and never noticed a rash or finger irritation until lately. It may be that there is bacteria inside the ring. If so, take the ring off and get it professionally cleaned. Tell your jeweller about the problem and ask them to sterilize the ring. I would tell you how to do this, but some gemstones react differently to different treatments and you may damage the ring if you are not an expert. Particular care must be taken when cleaning pearls, coral, emeralds and opals.

Once the ring is clean,leave it off until the rash clears up. Once your rash has disappeared, you can put the ring back on. If you try to wear the ring before the rash clears, you may transfer the bacteria back onto the ring from your finger. Consult your doctor if the rash is stubborn.

If the ring is brand new...

If you have just started to wear your ring, it is best to approach the store that sold it to you. They should be able to tell you the alloys that were used in making it. For example, many white gold alloys have nickel in them. Allergies to nickel are quite common. We meet people all the time that cannot wear golds under 18KT. Some people can only wear platinum.

If you need to find out more about a possible allergy to the alloys, have an allergy test done. You may need to make a new ring in platinum, or have the ring plated with rhodium to rectify the problem. Make sure you rule out the possibility of bacteria before you go down this route, as it is the most common reason for skin irritations. This approach may save you the trouble of making the ring again, needlessly.