Wearing gold rings & jewelry turns my skin black

A. I've been married almost 25 years, and have never taken off my wedding band. Never - EVER. Recently, my fingers started turning green/black. At dinner last night, I joked that time was up, a new ring was needed. My daughter said that in Science class they learned that this happens when your body is low in iron. As a test, if you take your ring off, wash it and rub it anywhere on your body, it will leave a black mark. In their high school class, 1/3 of the kids where lacking in iron.

Hi,

This posting was so funny to read, I have noticed sometimes that at least one of my rings (10k and 14k) turns my finger black on occasion, but I never tried to track when it happens. I am premenstrual right now and generally do have associated low iron levels, and when I read what people had written I had to try it--I took off my rings and tried to draw on my arm with them. Surprisingly it worked! And my 14k ring made a darker line than my 10k one. Not too alarmed by it but I may have them dipped in platinum one day! :)

Kim

My 14k wedding ring does the same thing. All I know to do is coat it with clear polish until my body works out its iron issues,lol ... so glad there are others out there like me.

A. My gold ring that I have worn for several years is now leaving a black ring around my finger a couple of days after I donate blood. It only happens then, so I'm sorry the makeup or abrasive theory doesn't work.

A. I have had this happen since I was around 13 or so. I had always heard it was an iron deficiency but heard that could be an old wives tale.

The black marks come and go. I have noticed that I feel a little "off" when the marks are around. I don't know how to describe it other than I don't feel well (but certainly don't feel awful).

It found a few comments interesting in this thread. One, I have never thought about it in relation to stress but I am certainly stressed today and they marks are very dark.
Two, I had never heard about any correlation with hormones or acidity which is a curious thought.

I do think it has to do with some kind of imbalance in the body. Incidentally, many women who don't think they get the black marks will get them when they rub it on their face (with or with out makeup). My face is where the marks show up the darkest.

A. I have the same problem and I know for a fact that this happens when my iron is low. I have been taking iron supplements for about 6 months and recently have stopped and my iron dropped again. I now have the black on my finger around my ring and on the other finger beside it. This is worst on the finger that I have a 14kt gold ring. The higher the gold the worse it is. If you take off your ring and rub it on your face you can probably draw a picture. Have your ferritin and iron levels checked. Mine were low for a long time and the doctors missed it as they only were doing a cbc count.

A. I have two wedding rings I wear -- one is a gold comfort ring; the other is my heavy gold wedding set w/diamonds. The wedding set turns my fingers black. The gold comfort ring doesn't. I can take my wedding set off with blackened fingers and clean them and put my comfort ring on with no blackened fingers. So I guess that blows the "chemical reaction or hormonal changes" theory out of the water. I believe the gold we are buying has more alloy than it once did. I got my wedding rings at Helzberg's and I am not impressed.

A. For many years I used to notice that my 18K gold wedding band turned any surrounding skin blackish. I was recently told that it was a sign that a person's body PH is acidic. In my case, this proved to be accurate. Before I learned this, I had stopped drinking alcohol, coffee, and eating sugar and processed foods (after being diagnosed with breast cancer at 51). The black hasn't been back since. I would caution anyone with blackening of their skin from gold to consider that it may be your body telling you that your body pH is acidic. Dietary changes may be needed in order for you to avoid serious health problems. For me, it was the bird in the mine, but I didn't know it.

A. You may want to have your Dr check your Iron levels. As I used to be amemic when I was you younger, my physician had me visit a nutritionist. There are many materials and minerals that can tell you what you may be lacking. Gold happens to be one that I was informed would help indicate that I need to boost up my iron. If you increase you intake of greens leafy vegetables regularly or take iron supplements, you will notice this will go away.

Once I increased my intake of greens my physician noticed that my iron levels were outstanding and NO stains on my ring fingers. I got lazy recently because my kids claims to be 'allergic - mentally' to greens so I haven't had much. My silver/black stains came back - so back to leafy vegetables. Hope this helps.
Indy

A. Over the past 60+ years all my rings have blackened my fingers periodically. My very unscientific research indicates that some dish detergents and soaps contribute to the problem. I have also put clear nail polish on the inside of rings which helps (but does not completely eliminate because I have been careful to put polish only on the inside). The blackening has nothing to do with my periods because those days are gone forever!

I too have had black smudges from my 14k gold rings. I have found it to happen when I take my over-the-counter potassium for leg cramps. I will not take the potassium for a few days and see if it goes away. Wish me luck!

I am a 40 year old male and wear a copper ring on my left and silver ring on my right hand. skin below both rings goes black predictably when I am in the vicinity of an energy source. Energy source = spiritual energy. If you don't believe me observe yourself and the skin especially on full moon and new moon days or on days when you feel you are in the zone (feeling good, not referring to periods) or have done any activity intensely 100%. Many people unknowingly are spiritual, by spiritual I do not mean religious or going to church to socialize and have meals. I am talking about hard core spirituality from the east. Take a meditation course and see what you discover about yourself... you'll be amazed and so will people around you be.

A. I've had the same problem off and on...and my mother always told me that it has to do with your pH like some of you said. She used to drink a weakened vinegar [in bulk on eBay or Amazon] water and it cleared up! ... I'm a lot older now and that's what I do when it sporadically shows up. No problem!

I have read all of the previous posts & have come to the conclusion that this problem of mine, is not only very common, but also can be the result of a million different things! I am not going to worry about it, or let it bother me, I will just deal with it & wash the area more frequently throughout the day! I LOVE MY RINGS!

A. Hi, Margaret. Sorry about your harried life, and hope you find a way to fix it. I wouldn't worry about black fingers, but your husband is surely right that a 24 year old woman who is no longer getting periods should see a doctor!

Regards,

A. I have a wedding ring I wear its 14k and a 10k on the other hand. Only the wedding ring 14k turns my finger and surrounding skin black only after applying lotion to both hands. It seems to be a certain lotion, other lotions don't react and the other hand with the 10k never turned anything ever.

A. For all of you out there suffering from your fingers & hands turning black, yes it's true, body acids can do that. I am sure you've met someone in your life who could not wear gold plated anything, my daughter is one of those people, her body can totally strip a lifetime guaranteed chain in a matter of hours...it's rather remarkable. She has a very acidic body. Nutrition is tremendously important and cannot be overstated for your health & well being, but equally important & never mentioned is the fact that most bodies today in our over chemical'd world are toxic...think about it. There are thousands of chemicals in our environment, your bodily processes are constantly trying to remove them, this happens regularly via your skin which is your body's largest detoxifying organ. Even if you only eat organically grown food, or grow your own, drink purified water and have the most expensive air filtration system in the world, you are still surrounded by toxic chemicals in the air. How do they get there? By use of most of the household cleaners, body products, if you use a dishwasher, if your house is heated with natural gas or you cook with gas, fumes are inundating your living space, gas= sulfuric acid fumes. The bromides & chlorine in hot tubs is also something that you not only don't want to get your jewelry into, you shouldn't be getting your body in there either. If your water source is fluoridated, you now have the 3 constituent chemicals combined for sarin gas, albeit a weak solution...(you might want to take a few minutes to research that one) The fastest way for a layman to "antique" a ring is to set it down beside your gas hot water heater. I am a jeweler & have been for almost 30 years, I have a very alkaline body chemistry & can wear solid copper rings without any discoloration at all, even on a hot day. As for trying to steam cleaner [on eBay or Amazon] the tarnish off of rings, that won't work, steam cleaning is very good at removing oils, grease & sludge, but it won't affect the oxidation on metal. A good polishing cloth with microabrasives is excellent if you can find them, but for most tarnish, a simple rouge cloth will do the trick although it can be difficult to get into deeper crevices or grooved areas. I happen to really like antiquing on gold, and most of the time produce my jewelry with oxidation solutions. I hope this allays some fears and gives a little bit of incentive to those of you who might want to research the toxins in your lives, if for no other reason than to become aware of your environment.

A. Hello
My fingers turn black from my 14k gold rings right around the time of my period and ovulation so there must be something to the chemistry thing! I'm sure there are other reasons affecting other folks but I first noticed the problem a few years ago when I entered perimenopause. Hope this helps!

A. It's funny that someone mentioned them not believing in this weird reaction having anything to do with your period, because it might not be your period at all; it may be HORMONES! My mother is pregnant and has never had an issue with it before now, she couldn't have experienced this while she was pregnant with me or my sister because she wasn't married then. She works in a hospital and said she believes it has something to do with hormones!

My rings only turn my fingers black in cold weather! This is so strange!!

Interesting thread. I was trying to determine why my skin turns black around my gold rings. I have a 10k wedding band on my left hand, and a 10k college ring plus a stainless steel iron ring on the right hand. In an attempt to rid myself of problems with cracking, splitting, and bleeding skin I tried zinc oxide [affil links] (baby diaper rash ointment) and noticed that it turned my skin black around the gold rings but not the steel ring. As soon as I stopped using the zinc oxide compound it simply went away. Thanks to this thread it is apparent that being 10 karat rings they are not pure gold and that the blackening is most likely caused by the interaction between the zinc oxide and the ring alloys.

Thanks for the help.

A. I have the black smudge issue as well. It is not consistent it comes and goes. I had a boss tell me one that it was a lack of a certain vitamin in the body. It was not iron. He explained the entire thing as a pH issue and how the alkalinity of the skin reacts to the gold. I tried it and the problem stopped. It was nearly 11 years ago and I can not remember what it was, I have been searching the web in hopes to find someone else who knows this same information. Oddly I believe it was potassium, calcium, or something that is more neutral than a metal (iron), it would be the balance to the acidity.

I'VE BEEN TOLD A PERSON IS LACKING VITAMIN ZINIC. IT HAS WORKED FOR ME. I HAVENT TAKEN ZINIC LATELY BECAUSE I'VE BEEN OUT. I WAS HOPING TO HEAR MAYBE LACKING ZINIC WAS RIGHT. I DON'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM ALL THE TIME. BUT WHEN I DO, IT REALLY LOOKS BAD. EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE READ FROM EACH AND EVERYONE SOUNDS RIGHT. THANK YOU.

Hi, just reading the responses there. I don't wear gold jewellery but I wear sterling silver and white gold and I too suffer with the black marks around my fingers, and on my wrist and neck from my bracelets and chains. My iron levels have always been on the low side although I'm not anaemic. For me, my skin only seems to turn black where my jewellery is when I'm cold, so my iron must be low at those times although it is especially more noticeable in the winter anyway. When I'm cold my hands and nose are coldest. I'm 34.