Some people say that stainless steel jewelry is hypoallergenic, but others are saying that stainless steel contains nickel so it is not safe. Who is right and who is wrong? Since we sell stainless steel jewelry in our store, and we care about our customers' health, we decided to find a clear answer.
According to the reports, the number of nickel allergy cases is growing exponentially. And the best treatment currently is the same as with any other allergy – avoid the source of it. After digging the pile of articles filled with weird terms we discovered something interesting:
- The absolute majority of stainless steel jewelry (and any other common stainless steel products!) does contain nickel. Even the hypoallergenic ones.
- The cause of nickel allergy is not the amount of nickel.
- Despite the above, most of the stainless steel products are indeed hypoallergenic.
Do you think it is contradictory? Well, in fact, it isn't.
Why is this important?
While there is a lot of stainless steel all around us, normally it does not matter how much nickel is in there because it doesn't have constant direct contact with our skin. Unlike jewelry, especially earrings, that we wear all day long. The longer we stay in contact with something that contains nickel the higher are the chances to develop the nickel allergy.
Do all stainless steels contain nickel?
Not all, but the most popular and commonly used do. There is a huge amount of different kinds of stainless steel. Some of them are nickel-free, but most are not. Nickel and chromium are commonly added to increase its toughness and corrosion resistance.
Does it mean that we should avoid stainless steel jewelry altogether?
Not at all, the general advice is to make sure it is hypoallergenic. For instance, Mayo Clinic advises choosing products made of nickel-free or surgical-grade steels:
“Surgical-grade stainless steel may contain some nickel, but it's generally considered hypoallergenic for most people.”
This sounds good, but we still had doubts.
Nickel-free obviously is not dangerous, but what is surgical-grade steel exactly?
Further digging revealed that “surgical-grade steel” is actually a general name for whatever stainless steel doctors use during surgery – from instruments to implants. Does that mean that whatever they are using during surgery is completely safe? That does not sound right, does it? Doctors may use some instruments for just a few minutes, but we have to stay in contact with implants for many years. A scalpel has to be sharp but an implant needs to be corrosion resistant, so different steels are used for different purposes. Meaning – their nickel content might also be different.
After searching for a while we still could not find any official documents that say what “surgical-grade steels” are exactly, and which steels are hypoallergenic.
What kind of steel is hypoallergenic?
After getting thoroughly confused with the “surgical grade”, we decided to switch to the hypoallergenic steel. And almost immediately we came across something called “Position Statement on Nickel Sensitivity” by the American Academy of Dermatology. And here comes the big surprise, as this document says:
“It is the amount of nickel released from an article, not the fact that the article contains nickel, which determines the potential for causing nickel allergic contact dermatitis”.
In other words, it does not matter how much nickel is in the steel! The important thing is how much of that nickel can enter our body. That makes sense, doesn't it? To see if the steel is hypoallergenic or not, we need to know not the amount of nickel in it but it's nickel release rate.
So which nickel release rate is considered to be safe?
There is actually an official regulation for this. Both the European Nickel Directive and the American Academy of Dermatology recommend the nickel release rate no more than 0.2 μg Ni/cm2/week (using EN1811 test) for piercing jewelry, like earrings that come directly in contact with skin and are worn for a long time.
Now the most important for us question – is the stainless steel of our shop jewelry really hypoallergenic? Yes, it is. We've contacted our manufacturers to learn which stainless steels they use and checked their nickel release rates. We guarantee that all of them are below the recommended 0.2 μg Ni/cm2/week!
In our everyday life, the stainless steel grades we mostly come in contact with are 304 and 316L. We found several articles (like this one or this one) that report their nickel release rates and compare them with other steels. The nickel release rate for 304-grade steel is 0.08 μg Ni/cm2/week, and for 316L-grade steel, it is 0.02 μg Ni/cm2/week, which is 2.5 to 10 times less than the recommended minimum.
Whether you wish to buy our jewelry or just want to know more about nickel allergy and its causes, we hope you find this article useful!
LC.