Just a couple of questions.

I got my ears pierced when I was 16 at a mall where they used a gun and gold piercing studs...before I knew any better...and they got horribly infected even though I took great care to keep them clean. I took the studs out, flushed the "wounds" with warm salt water and antiseptic and let them heal for a bit. I sterilized the studs after the infection was gone and re-punctured the thin layer of skin that started to heal over. I took insanely great care of them and they healed up. After a little while, I noticed that the gold jewelry irritated my skin. It wasn't infected, but it was always a little soar and slightly red. Is that because it was infected and now my body rejects it?? Since then, even wearing gold around my neck makes my skin a little red.

Sterling silver sucks for me too. Most of my friends at the time could wear it, but I just couldn't. Since then, I've always bought high grade stainless or titanium. My second question is (finally), is there any way I might be able to tell if I'm allergic to acrylic before I try to wear the captives? This is mostly just a post out of pure curiosity, as I suppose it would probably cost more to find out by some other method than to just try the jewelry; especially since acrylic doesn't cost too much. But, maybe there's some weird way of telling that I'm not aware of.(?)

And since this is my first post, as I am a noob. Hello all.