Erin Dunn purchased the earrings for $2 right around the same time she developed the severe reaction
Erin Dunn first noticed her symptoms in November.
The 24-year-old healthcare worker recalls it started with her eye turning red, which she initially mistook for pink eye or allergies. To confirm it wasn’t contagious, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, Dunn left work early to visit urgent care.
There, she received antibiotic drops and was informed it wasn’t pink eye or anything contagious. However, the treatment didn’t alleviate her symptoms. She decided to wait and see if things would improve, but on Dec. 15, Dunn noticed a rash developing around her eyes.
“It persisted throughout May, mostly causing itchiness and peeling around my eyes, ears, mouth and neck, and also on my fingers where my rings were,” Dunn tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Some days it flared up way worse than others.”
Dunn tried “everything” to resolve the rash, including steroid creams, eliminating gluten and dairy from her diet and changing her detergents.
“I even thought I might be allergic to my cat, so I switched him to hypoallergenic food and started vacuuming and brushing him every other day,” she says. “Then I changed to washing my face with a gentle cleanser and using a gentle moisturizer and healing ointment, which helped with the dryness but not the itchiness or irritation.”
Yet, nothing seemed to keep the rash at bay. Then, in early June, Dunn made the decision to remove her earrings. She had come across an article on Google about earrings causing eczema and saw photos that resembled her symptoms. By the next morning, she noticed the rash had faded.
“When I realized they could be causing it, I thought, ‘I really hope it’s not my earrings because that would mean I just spent six months of my life and hundreds of dollars all because of my $2 earrings,’ ” she says.
“As a child, I had some sensitivities to jewelry — never this severe, but occasional itching from rings and bracelets. This was the first time I felt like, ‘Oh my God, I think I figured it out!’ It gave me hope for the first time in months.”
After making this discovery, Dunn posted about it on TikTok to share her story. To her surprise, her video went viral with 1 million views and over 1,100 comments.
“I posted about it on TikTok because every day I would look for answers or solutions to my problems, and I almost always went to TikTok,” she says. “Usually, it’s doctors or real people sharing their experiences, but I never once saw a video talking about metal allergies.”
“I thought it was extremely important to share my story with others who are facing the same issue and may not have tried what I did,” she adds.
Since removing the earrings, Dunn says her symptoms have nearly disappeared. She no longer experiences redness, irritation or itching at all. Currently, she avoids wearing any jewelry except her nose ring, which hasn’t caused any reaction.
“Mostly, I just feel like my normal self again,” she says. “The biggest relief is that I’m not afraid to look people in the eye anymore and wonder if they can see my terrible reaction.”
She adds, “I want people to know that if they’re dealing with something like eczema, acne or any other insecurity, they’re not alone. Don’t lose hope because sometimes it just takes time to resolve these things.”
