Allergic to AirPod Pro eartips

While I suppose some folks COULD be allergic to both the plastic and the tips, the fact that the rash, oozing, etc. is happening places where the tips don't touch doesn't actually seem to be evidence of that.

I'm pretty sure that we're all dealing with ear eczema, which I believe is a specific king of allergic contact dermatitis. And with *allergic* contact dermatitis, the reaction usually extends beyond the zone of contact with the allergic materials. Here's the relevant quote from Wikipedia:

"The main difference between the rash caused by allergic contact dermatitis and the one caused by irritant contact dermatitis is that the latter tends to be confined to the area where the trigger touched the skin, whereas in allergic contact dermatitis the rash is more likely to be more widespread on the skin." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergic_contact_dermatitis

This also matches my experience - some of my symptoms were on parts of my ear that NO part of the AirPods touched.

I think you are right, jaydles. The irritation definitely extends way down in my ear canal. Changing tips did not help. And, like so many, I've never had allergies of any kind before, and wore other earbuds without issues (for years!) prior to this. I've had to switch to Beats—I can't put anything in my ear now, and it takes weeks to clear up when I "just try one more time."

I hate to admit defeat, as I loved the Pros when I got them, but I guess I'm going to give up.

I’m experiencing this now, with a little bit more of a peculiar presentation. I have no allergies to silicone or anything else that I know of, and I’ve used the AirPod Pros without issue since receiving them as a gift in December 2019. I was using them for 2 to 5 hours per day until the stay-at-home orders went into place in NYC, at which point my usage went to 2-5 hours per week.

I haven’t had an issue, or at least one that was noticeable to me, until the beginning of April when my right ear started flaking at the entrance to the ear canal. I thought it was excess wax at first and gently cleaned my ear and moved on. My left ear has had no issue.

The next day, and on those days that followed, I noticed the “excess wax” would re-develop in the right ear canal. I’d clean it, but it eventually evolved into irritation and drainage. I applied disinfectant to keep it from getting worse. I additionally disinfected the AirPods Pro case and silicone tips before each use.

I then took a three days off from using my right AirPod Pro, and made sure not to touch my right ear, which developed a pretty large scabby crust at the ear canal entrance. The whole time I was continuing to use my left AirPod Pro to no ill-effect.

The scab in the right ear fell off on its own after a few days, and the irritation was also gone.

24 hours later I attempted to use the right side AirPod Pro again, and after an hour or so the irritation is back in just the right ear canal.

It seems like maybe I didn’t give my right ear enough time to heal (from what?), or I’ve developed an allergy in one ear only, which seems pretty far-fetched. Maybe I got some irritant on the right AirPod Pro only?

Most people in this thread report the irritation happening at first use, so it leads me to think that my issue might be an infection of some sort, but the irritation is ignorable and doesn’t keep me up at night like others in this thread have reported. It’s just stings a little bit and turns to a crust within a few hours.

I don’t really feel great about going to the doctor in NYC mid-pandemic), and I don’t think there’s much they’ll tell me besides “Stop wearing the right side AirPod Pro.”

I’ll give it a bit longer using only the left AirPod Pro and try the right side one again next week when it’s seemingly back to a normal physical state. I’ll try my old Bose in-ears first to see if they have the same effect, and will move onto the Airpod Pros if I don’t see the irritation return.

Mine wasn’t at first use. I bought them in late Oct when they released and I didn’t start noticing anything that I remember until mid-Jan with the flaking in both. It wasn’t until late Feb that the drainage started. I stopped using them altogether (Not flying since early March) and switched back to AirPods. I used them last week for about 30 mins and the drainage that night was miserable. I decided to clean them thinking it was bacterial and when they were drying I found this thread. I bought some memory foam tips to try but haven’t yet.

So I was having this problem consistently- itchy ear canals almost immediately with red, dry eczema for days after using them. It kept getting worse and worse so that i couldn’t use them even for an hour before having symptoms that would last days. Because I received them for Christmas i couldn’t return them so I went to amazon to look for a quality silicone replacement tip and found that AIRSPO AirPods pro tips look exactly the same, so I bought them. I have worn them off and on for hours for two days now with no issues! They fit exactly the same, look exactly the same and have the same quality sound without the irritation! Come in three different sizes. Small, Med, and Lg. Only $9.95 and you get two pair. Hope this helps. I’m a happy camper now.

hmmm...my reaction was only in the ear canal, where the tips touched and no where else. This is where it became inflamed, itchy and red within mere minutes of putting airpod pro tips in. Then they would become dry and flaky by the next day only in that area. It is also the only pair of ear buds that I have ever had that have caused this reaction, despite having used many different ear buds and styles over the years. My last pair were beats wireless ear buds and I loved them, and wore them all the time. So I don’t think it is just contact irritation. In addition, like I said, I just replaced the tips with a different silicone tip and now I am not experiencing any irritation at all.

I just had same problem this week. I use them for 5 hours a day and after one week both my ears are itchy, hurt, red, and scaly. I need to return them. Never had any issues with any other in ear sets before.

My original post was from New Years Day so I wanted to post an update here. Just to recap, I had been a user of the original AirPods for a few years. I'd consider myself a pretty heavy user - probably 3+ hours of use every day. I had never had a serious reaction until I started using the AirPods Pro in November. I had a serious reaction after a few days of use which resulted in itching, burning, swelling of my ear canals and a clear discharge that went on for days. I stopped using the AirPods Pro and it took more than a week for my ears to return to normal. I tried using them again, and after 40 minutes of use, my ears were getting itchy and inflamed, and the swelling and drainage started all over again. My ear canals swelled to the point that it seriously affected my hearing. I stopped using them again and it took more than a week for my ears to calm down and get back to normal.

In January, I contacted Apple support and explained my problem. They spent a fair amount of energy trying to understand what was happening. They gave me a link to upload photos of the AirPods Pro and my ears. They had me answer all kinds of questions. I was happy to do it because I would like Apple to find a solution to all of this. I love the AirPods Pro and I want to have a version that will work with my body chemistry.

The agent I was dealing with shipped me a box to return them free of charge. He offered a full refund. This was clearly the right thing to do. Apple isn't going to tell us what they're doing and they're not going to reveal their processes or a list of materials that they use. If you expect them to do that, you're crazy. Not gonna happen. But if they can take the information that we're giving them, maybe they can find a solution for future products. Now I'm back to using my old original AirPods with admittedly some slight lingering irritation where they touch my ear. I can live with it but it would be nice to have a solution.

I'm wondering if there could be some sort of material inside the AirPods Pro that is being "breathed" into our ears by the sound waves that are generated. Wouldn't that be weird?

I honestly think it’s something in the silicon that’s causing this, something that they have used to treat the silicone with.

I am currently awaiting Apple answer, I’ve also answered lots of questions and sent various photo’s to them.

The actual AirPod is not the problem for it’s the silicone, this I am sure of.

I can you the Bose headphones with no problems.

I also would prefer for Apple to find a solution as I love my AirPods. I can’t go back to my first gen pods as I lost them which was why I brought the new ones.

my reactions did not start straight away, it started about 2 months after buying them.

I am not what you call a heavy user, normal for me is 1-2hours maybe twice to four times a month.

I agree with you, and it is weird because I bought them back in early January and wore them to workout. Had no issues. Started using them for meetings over the computer, wearing them for an hour at the most. Noticed my left ear itching right where you insert them. Have a little bit of an itch on the right, but the left is certainly more. I think there is something in or on the silicon tips that is the issue, because my other silicon ear buds never bothered me. It will be interesting to see if they say anything.

I still think it sounds like a silicon allergy for you, but I'm telling you a majority of these people having the reaction, it's to the body of the airpod. I had the exact same reaction when I tried going back to wearing the original airpods again, which have no silicon at all; I had the same crusting, draining, inflammation, etc. And if it was the silicon tips it doesn't explain why I had a reaction on the side of my face wear the arm of the airpod touched my face. Go back to one of the earlier pages to see the picture I posted

I knew it! I got the same problem. I kinda suspected that but not sure. I went to my doctor to have my ear check just to make sure I don’t have serious problem. The doctor said there’s nothing wrong with my eardrum and everything is okey except the allergy that probably got it from the silicone or rubber from my AirPods pro. The question is, is there any solution or recall from apple with this problem?

I have the same reaction using my AirPod pro, having ear drainage. My doctor said I get allergy on the silicon or rubber of my AirPod pro tip. My question is, is there’s recall or improvise on the AirPod pro silicon tip Apple will do?

abengco wrote:

I have the same reaction using my AirPod pro, having ear drainage. My doctor said I get allergy on the silicon or rubber of my AirPod pro tip. My question is, is there’s recall or improvise on the AirPod pro silicon tip Apple will do?

Apple is unlikely to recall the tips because some people are allergic to the silicone any more than they're going to recall the Apple Watches because they have a small amount of nickel in them.

Follow deggie's advice in the post immediately above yours.

i Just received my order in the mail today. I bought them on EBay, they are Foam Masters. They were $30 I think, and that is for three different sizes in the box. I used them this afternoon for about 39 minutes, and so far so good. Will try them again tomorrow for a meeting for work.