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Avatar universal

allergic to my watch

It appears I am allergic to my watch.  I've known this for some time now and I bought myself a titanium watch which I could wear without any problems.  But after I received a stainless steel watch as a gift which is better then my titanium watch I started wearing that one instead.   My solution to the problem was to buy a strap with a leather backing to it keeping the stainless steel from coming in contact with my skin.  This is great but sometimes I want to wear the stainless bracelet that came with the watch.  Is it possible to periodically wear the stainless watch/bracelet as long as I can before it starts to become irritating, which would be a few days, then change to the strap and swap back and forth hopefully lengthening the stainless periods and defeating the allergy?  I quess my question is can an allergy like this be beaten like a cat or dog allergy?
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Avatar universal
Okay. Here's an update on my watch progress. I haven't been posting updates like I said I would but I certainly haven't given up. At this point, I only wear the stainless bracelet on my watch! I have finally beat the allergy. I've worn the watch for 10 days and nights straight without taking it off once as a test and had no problems. I usually take it off at night and wear it every day. No problems anymore. I've been wearing it every day for the past 10 months or so with NO allergic reactions. It can be beaten!! be patient and don't give up!
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the info, it's nice to hear that I'm not wasting my time attempting this.  I have noticed that over the past year or so I've been able to wear the stainless watch longer then I have been able to in the past.  In the beginning I could wear it for a day before it becomes unbareable and I have to take it off.  Now I can wear it over a weekend.  This past Christmas I had the stainless bracelet on it for about 4 days straight without any problems until the very end.  But when the very end arrives, it takes about half an hour from start to finish to the point where I have to take it off.  It feels like it's burning into my wrist, and I get a metallic feeling throughout my body and especially in my teeth.  But I will beat this eventually and I will post my progress.
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351246 tn?1379682132
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi
Thanks for writing to the forum!
Yes, it is possible to alternate between stainless steel and leather strap. Slowly the body will become accustomed to the steel and you will have fewer reactions to it.
Hope this helps. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!
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Avatar universal
I've tried the nail polish trick but it peels off after a day or two and I leave nail polish flakes everywhere.  And you're right, it does seem worse in the summer when in the sun and especially when I'm sweating.  I guess I'll just try the stainless more in the winter when I can get away with it more often.  What I want to try to do is wear the stainless watch as long as I can until I can't bare it anymore, at this point it will become very irritating very fast but I don't get a rash.  When I say "very irritation very fast" I don't mean it will become irritating shortly after I put it on, what I mean is after a few days it will suddenly become irritating.  At that time I will switch to the leather strap for a few days.  Then I will go through another stainless cycle and hopefully after time those cycles will last longer and longer.  Thus, putting this allergy at bay.  I don't know if it will work but I'm willing to give it a try.  I'm gonna switch over to the stainless bracelet now and I'll post how long it takes before I HAVE to switch back to leather.  And I'll use this thread to keep track of how long the stainless cycles are and hopefully they will improve with time.
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Avatar universal
I would get bad rashes from wearing watches and wear leather band watches now.  

What I did years ago, when I desired to wear nice watches, was to wear a tennis player wrist band or wrap gauze around my wrist, the width of the watch band, and wore the watch slightly tight.  This method kept a rash from developing.

You may also want to try to apply nail polish to the watch strap that meets the skin.  I am allergic to titanium, on my glasses.  This was recommended to me, by my eye doctor.

It depends on the severity of your allergies, in the past, sometimes I could wear my watch and develop a rash within an hour, while other times it would take a few days, but either way, a rash alway's developed.  But I did notice, that a rash would develop more faster in the summer then winter, probably due to sweat that developed between the watch and skin.  

Hope the info helped.
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