If you have a nickel allergy then you probably know the main things to avoid like metal objects, coins, zips, studs on clothes, jewellery, certain foods even. The list of things containing nickel is endless but had you ever considered that your beloved phone or trusty iPad could cointain nickel?
This subject has been on my mind since the ‘itchy palms’ fiasco, but on closer inspection, I use the ipad with a Logitech keyboard so rarely touch the outer casing and my ipad is also in a protective case so this is probably not what’s causing my strange localised itching.
I tried to contact Apple to ask them, “Do iPads contain nickel?” but it is pretty impossible to find any way of contacting them. Just what I love about big corporates with no phone number or email address, just endless searchable self help FAQs which don’t help at all.
A quick google search however brings up quite a few reported incidences of rashes caused by nickel in ipads.
Reuters suggests that perhaps the nickel problem is only in early ipads?
Not being an early adopter with either the iPhone or iPad may mean the ones in our household do not contain high levels of nickel, however if you have handed the old iPad down to your child and their eczema has got much worse and nothing seems to help it could be worth looking at their ipad use.
Are they using the ipad a lot? Can you restrict ipad use for a week or two to see if the rash improves? or buy a cover that will prevent contact with the skin.
The rash seems to not appear just on the hands and face where you might expect but can travel around the body which then confuses the issue; it can’t be the ipad if the rash is on the belly?
But it could, the nickel gets into your skin and can then trigger an eczema outbreak on other weaker, dryer parts of the body.
You might think that just a little old rash isn’t that much of a problem, but constant itching can be really depressing, affect sleep, reduce condentration and increase the chance of infection in the raw, open, scratched skin.
Especially for people with allergies, it’s important to maintain a healthy skin barrier and moisturise eczema to reduce the severity of any allergy outbreaks. Poorly managed skin will react more swiftly and absorb allergens far more quickly.
So has anyone out there suspected they were allergic to their iPad? Is it only the first generation iPads which contained high levels of nickel? Anyone getting a rash from using the new ones?
Anyone out there from Apple want to comment?
In reply to your query as to whether or not your Ipad contains nickel, the easiest way for you to find out would be to obtain a Nickel Testing Kit. This was $80.00 N.Z for me in New Zealand, but has enabled me to test everything in my living environment for nickel. Is very easy and instant to use: – Dip cotton bud in the solution, rub in the suspected item: if the cotton bud turns pink, that item contains nickel. Was the best investment I ever made. I have covered items I have to use every day with clear tape.
Hope this helps. Joan Edwards
Brilliant thanks for that tip re nickel testing. Can anyone recommend a test in the UK? My next but if research I think,
With all sorts of try-outs re my nickel allergy that started with the use of iPad. At one point my hands started bleeding and with hands swelling up, it was pure agony, Of course the nickel test kit has helped me a lot, but I still would love to have a tablet, especially when I travel. Is there a tablet with no or very little nickel? I can’t very well go to the store and rub the test on each of the products I am interested in purchasing. HELP!
Margot