Moment Woman Realizes She Was 'Accidentally Poisoning' Herself for Months

Pictures from Dunn's viral TikTok where she revealed what had caused her reaction.

A woman has shared how she discovered what had been "poisoning" her for months.

"I'm pretty sure I've been accidentally poisoning myself for the last like six months by wearing extremely cheap earrings," said Erin Dunn, from Atlanta, in a now-viral TikTok video.

The ordeal began in November last year when Dunn woke up with her eyes itching and rashes around her eyes, lips, ears and hands.

Despite multiple visits to doctors and various treatments, including eye drops, dietary changes, and new makeup, nothing seemed to alleviate her symptoms.

After extensive trial and error, Dunn finally identified the culprit: cheap earrings she had been wearing.

"I actually tried everything to make it go away. I used crazy steroid creams, I changed my diet, I tossed all my makeup, and nothing worked. I realized it should've probably eased up at least a little with one of those things and I kind of got a little thought that 'what if it's the earrings,' so I took them out and my rash started clearing up within 24 hours," Dunn told Newsweek.

The video quickly went viral, gaining over 1.2 million views and prompting others to share their own experiences.

"I'm having this exact reaction but can't figure out what it is from," said Molly Sage. While another viewer said: "This happened to me too with certain jewelry."

Tracy said: "Wow. Thanks for sharing."

The cause of the reaction was a nickel allergy. Nickel allergies are a common cause of contact dermatitis, which can cause an itchy rash, dry cracked skin, swelling and blisters.

Exposure to nickel can cause symptoms within days and even hours, and can last for weeks afterward.

Inexpensive jewelry often uses nickel as a base metal before plating with gold or silver. Those with nickel allergies should stick to jewelry made from hypoallergenic materials including surgical-grade stainless steel, titanium, platinum, pure sterling silver, or 24K gold.

Dunn didn't share the origin of the earrings and explained why: "I don't want to share where I got the earrings from because I don't think it's that specific brand. I think people should just be wary that this is something that can happen and nobody talks about it, but I don't think it has much to do with the brand," she said. She added that she hopes people will learn from her story: "I never once saw a video about a metal allergy so I knew it was important to share."

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