Yes. Gold itself can cause allergic contact dermatitis, and it turns up on dermatology patch tests more often than most parents would expect. It's still a much less common cause of earring reactions than the metals mixed into gold. A child who reacts to "gold" earrings is more often reacting to nickel, copper or silver in a lower-karat alloy, or to the base metal under a worn plating. Our Safety Promise sets out what we test and publish.
If her ears reacted to something sold as gold, it's reasonable to wonder whether gold is the problem. It's worth finding out properly, because the answer changes what she should wear next.
What the research shows
Gold is a recognized contact allergen. In a North American study of patients sent for patch testing, 9.5% reacted to gold, and 90.2% of those who reacted were women (American Journal of Contact Dermatitis, 2001).
That figure isn't a rate for everyone. The people in that study had been referred because a skin problem was already suspected. The share of all children allergic to gold is far lower, and studies of children specifically are much fewer.
A positive patch test isn't always a reaction to jewelry. Testing for gold uses a gold salt held against the skin under a patch for about two days. A positive result doesn't always match a reaction to anything the person actually wears, which is why a dermatologist reads it alongside her history.
Nickel is the larger issue by a wide margin. Nickel allergy affects around one in five people in North America, and nickel is one of the metals commonly alloyed into lower-karat and white gold.
Why "gold" earrings cause reactions
Karat tells you how much isn't gold. 24 karat is pure gold. 14 karat is 14 parts gold in 24, so more than 40% of the metal is something else. At 9 karat, gold is less than 40% of the metal.
White gold often contains nickel. The white color has to come from somewhere, and nickel has long been one of the most common ways to get it.
Plated gold is only as good as what's under it. Once the finish wears through, usually at the post or the back first, her skin is against the base metal. When that base is brass or an unnamed alloy, the reaction gets blamed on the gold.
Backs are often not gold at all. They're frequently a generic part from a different supplier, finished differently or not finished at all.
Rose gold can't be pure. Its pink color comes from copper, so it always carries another metal.
How to tell whether gold is really the problem
Think about which pairs caused it. A reaction to low-karat, white or gold plated earrings points to the other metals first. A reaction to high-karat gold with no nickel anywhere underneath is more suggestive of gold itself.
Notice where it happens. Soreness at the back of the lobe, where the butterfly sits, often means the back is the issue rather than the front.
Ask about patch testing. If reactions keep happening, her pediatrician can refer her to a dermatologist or allergist for patch testing. It's the only reliable way to know which metal she reacts to.
Don't try to diagnose it at home. A nickel spot test on an earring tells you whether nickel is coming off that pair. It can't tell you what her skin reacts to.
While you're finding out
Take the earrings out and let the lobe settle. Most irritation from jewelry calms once the metal is removed. If it doesn't, or the lobe is hot, swollen or discharging, that's one for her pediatrician.
Keep a short note of every pair. What it's sold as, the karat if it's given, and how long it took for her ears to react. A dermatologist will find that list more useful than anything else you can bring.
Change one thing at a time. If the next pair is a different metal and a different back, and her ears are fine, you still won't know which change mattered.
The part that affects our own range
This is the section I'd want to read if I were in your position.
Our 24K Pure Gold earrings have pure 24 karat gold at the surface. There's no nickel, copper or silver alloyed into that gold, which takes away the alloy metals that lower-karat gold carries. But if a dermatologist has confirmed that she's allergic to gold itself, gold at the surface is the thing to avoid, and that includes ours.
For a child with a confirmed gold allergy, the right choice from our range is Polished Surgical Steel. It's a single material, S316L Surgical Steel, through the front, the post and the butterfly back, with no gold anywhere on it.
What we do
At my previous brand we used 18 karat gold. At purepixxi I chose 24 karat, over a period in which the price of gold rose to roughly two and a half times what it had been five years earlier, and while much of the category was quietly moving to lower karats. I made that choice because pure gold removes the alloy question. It doesn't remove the possibility of a gold allergy, and I'd rather say so plainly than have you find out the hard way.
We use two materials. S316L Surgical Steel, on its own throughout the Polished Surgical Steel range. And 24K Pure Gold, which is pure 24 karat gold applied onto a S316L Surgical Steel core with Aunix™ 24K, our engineered gold finish. It's a gold-plating process, and we say so.
Both are independently tested by SGS to ASTM F2923, CPSIA and BSEN 71-3, with nickel release not detected under EN 1811. Report BTO 341803/1, and you can ask me for it.
If her ears have already reacted to gold jewelry and you don't yet know why, the pair we'd start with is the 5mm Star Stud Earrings in S316L Surgical Steel, with no gold on them at all. Let her wear them for 30 days and send them back if they don't work for her. The full range is on the Polished Surgical Steel collection.
Questions parents ask next
Does 24 karat gold cause fewer reactions than 14 karat? It removes the alloy metals, including any nickel, that 14 karat gold contains. It doesn't help a child who is allergic to gold itself.
Can a gold allergy develop later? Contact allergies can develop after repeated exposure, so a child who wore gold without trouble could react later. It's uncommon with gold and far more common with nickel.
Can she be allergic to gold and nickel? Yes. Some people react to more than one metal, which is another reason patch testing is worth asking about if reactions keep coming back.
Are gold filled earrings a good option for a child with a gold allergy? No. Gold filled jewelry has a layer of karat gold alloy over a base metal, so it puts gold and other metals against her skin.
Is it the gold or the post? Often the post or the back. Those take the most friction, so plating wears through there first, and they're the parts least likely to match the front.
Related reading
- Do gold earrings contain nickel?
- What karat gold is best for sensitive ears?
- How do I know if my daughter is allergic to nickel?
- Why do her ears react to earrings?
About the author. Matt Westmore is the founder of purepixxi. He came to children's jewelry from manufacturing and sourcing rather than marketing, which means he has walked the factory floors and knows what is actually inside a product rather than what a label says about it. purepixxi uses two materials only, names them exactly, and has them independently tested.
