Allergic to AirPod Pro eartips

i have the same problem: my ear canal would become very painful and itchy after wearing the APP. And every time I need a week not wearing them to heal. Changed the tips and still the same. I’m really sad because I do love them. I used other in ear earphones (e.g. Shure) before and never had any issue.

Anyone else In Singapore experiencing this with the APP?

I cleaned everything but the tips with 91% isopropyl alcohol before doing the foam tip test. Not that I expected that would help. You can clean things as much as you want, if this is a chemical reaction to some chemical or material manufactured into the AirPods, no amount of cleaning is going to remove it or change the biology of it.

I’ve said it before here and I’ll add to it again...I get Apple’s position to some degree that someone will always be sensitive to something but I think this goes beyond that simple excuse. I think this is much bigger than this one thread but the only thing that is going to force their hand is media attention and/or a class action lawsuit. But I’m betting that their engineers are already working on the ‘AirPod Pro 2’ that is reengineered with hypoallergenic materials. And they’ll expect all of us sheep to hand over $275 for them. And we likely will.

I too purchased a cute cover case and a variety of foam tips. But honestly, not worth risking it. They will reimburse even if you purchased on Amazon, as I did.

i do think this is worth media coverage to help make others aware and maybe promoting a product recall. There’s something wrong with them.

Nickel allergies are also “vastly rare” and Apple sells devices that contain nickel. Some people actually discover they are allergic to nickel when they buy an Apple Watch. Apple will not recall the Apple Watch.

Allergies do not wait 4 months to emerge, either your immune system attacks it immediately or not. If it starts 4 months later that is either the result of a serious autoimmune disorder or the ear became inflamed from something else and the IEM aggravated it. I have grass allergies this time of year that get to my ears. I have to quit using any of my IEMs unless I really want a serious ear infection.

Apple asks the questions they have of people who volunteer to help. If they can determine what the allergen is and confirm it with the medical field then they can list the material (like they do with nickel) and advise if you are allergic to that component return it immediately. And then people would learn not to purchase the AirPod Pros or Powerbeats Pros. Or Apple can change the tip materials.

Sorry if it came off as if I think a recall would be justified; I don’t. I understand how the system works. I guess what I’m getting at is that none of my other IEMs are causing the same issue, and that I’m just searching for an answer as to why this happened suddenly and why it continues to happen with APPs only.

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Has anybody tried taking the tips off and washing them really good? My thinking is there’s some kind of chemical substance on them that’s messing with our ears after awhile. Because as far as I know, I’ve never been allergic to Silicon in my entire life

Sorry, I meant it appears to be the same result as the nickel on my arm - no apparent reaction. I was being cautious just in case my ear gets irritated later but I don’t think it is going to. It seems to be fine. Tomorrow if everything looks good I may try putting one of the AirPod Pros in without the tip on it. May have to tape it in but just to see if it’s something in the pod itself and not the tip at all.

To be perfectly honest, the only reason I’m even bothering with all of this and trying different tips is because I sunk $250 into these things and I bought them at Best Buy eight months ago so I don’t think returning them is an option. Otherwise I’d be happy to. But I also want to stay positioned to be a benefactor of whatever remedy Apple may offer in the future, or be a member of the class action law suit if one should come from this.

Well. I’m on my second visit to the doctor. $400 later for doctors visits and $250 for APP. I’m gonna give it one more shot. I ordered memory foam tips that im

gonna try once my ears heal this go round. If I end up back in my doctors I will progress further actions.

Have to agree that the seal seems highly unlikely as the primary reason (maybe it exacerbates it of course). I have also used in-ear headphones for many years, most providing much better seal (they didn't have noise cancelling technology; so seal was more important for these headphone). I have never had an issue before this.

Ultimately, a complex combination of factors can be leading to the reaction and subsequent immune system sensitivity/allergic reaction. We are seeing that from all of the testing of the alternatives the community has done. Only clinical testing will answer this is my conclusion.

After all the commendable effort I have seen here, my feeling is move on from AirPos Pros. Don't risk your hearing or sleep. And let other sufferers know they should move on too.

Oh man what a night! For anybody that hasn’t worked a 12 hour shift let me tell ya...it feels like ALL DAY. And its either insanely boring or so much excitement i wanna die. There’s no in the middle.

So I’m 10 hours in (got two hours until i go home) and generally so far so good. Not much going on with my stupid ears. I had a little leakage when i left to go to work and when i got here, i used a q tip to kinda dry it up a little bit and it was dry for a long while. I used my AirPods Pro pretty much until they were about to die and when i took them out, my right ear was a little wet. Not like dripping wet, but noticeably. Like you jam your finger in there and you’re like “wow. It’s like i just got water in my ear”.

And i was a bit worried that it this whole ear infection was coming back but i went without my AirPods for a couple hours and let my ear dry up and then i was good. Used my AirPods for another 3 hours and everything was fine. So i guess in total, everything’s fine. I just wonder why my ear is getting wet sometimes and if this is gonna go anywhere or if this is all thats gonna happen. Or is it just getting hot in my ear? Maybe the AirPod is sealing up my ear while it gets hot and when it does, sweat gets trapped in there. And when you just let it sit in there, you get swimmer’s ear and boom, ear infection? We’ll see! For now I’m just using it and when i notice my ear getting damp, i take a little break until they’re dry. I do not put AirPods in if my ears are wet. At all

Would like to hear from other people that have changed ear tips and how your ears are doing

With allergies you have to be realistic. If say 10 million AirPod Pros have been sold and 9,200 people react what is that percentage? Should the product be banned? And what allergy is it?

These are the questions and they aren’t easy to solve and it is multivariate making it more difficult. Whoever made the tips for the AirPod Pros may have used some chemical that they were not aware could trigger a reaction in a very small percentage of people who are allergic to it. So the people who react can try to determine what their allergy is and Apple can check with their supplier and see if they can avoid use of the substance or add it to their materials warning list like nickel.

Let us know how the skins work for ya! I’m trying different things too because I really don’t wanna go back to the old gen AirPods. When my ears were healing up and I was waiting for my new tips to come, I used my 2nd gen AirPods and it was just so...inferior. They kept falling out, I felt like I heard everything over my music and they just didn’t sound as good. So if there’s a way to keep using the pros, I’m gonna try!

i got those airspo tips so far they seem to be working pretty good. Had a little bit of wetness in my ear but nothing else

None of your analogies are really applicable to this. I don't doubt that there are more than 92, but even if you increase it to 9,200 (which might be pushing it) it is still an extremely small percentage of the total amount of APPs sold.

I applaud you for attempting to find out what is causing this. I hope that includes seeing an allergist and following through all the tests they want to run. I hope that also includes providing all the information that Apple has asked for. Then you are doing something. But I have yet to see that this has killed anyone so the comparison with Tylenol intentional poisoning or the tainting of a drug is not only wrong but a bit insulting. And are you saying that the company that makes the tips intentionally wanted to make people sick? And Tylenol, and other generics did make capsules again.

As I said earlier if it is possible to determine what chemical, or combination of chemicals, is setting off an allergy you can then avoid the product and Apple can provide a warning in their materials list. And a new allergy can be added to that list.

Hard to keep track of what each user is trying. What’s leading you to believe it’s not the tips?

It can’t have anything to physically do with the sealed soundwaves. There’s no heat being generated, so no melting. And the vibrations aren’t so intense that they could do damage. Plus, the drainage isn’t ear wax, at least not the typical kind.

It could be the seal, but that wouldn’t explain why it doesn’t happen to every APP user. It’s an immune response to something. A lot of people here may be experiencing a persistent middle/outer ear infections, disfunction if the Eustachian tubes, etc.

This article seems pretty consistent with a lot of our symptoms, and points out the many middle ear infections resolve on their own.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ear-infections/symptoms-causes/syc-20351616

I love the discussion here, but if it’s affordable and relatively safe where you are, people should be seeking an allergist or ENT’s help. Discontinuing use of the APPs seems to resolve the problem for most, so that’s the obvious solution, but if we’re really trying to get to the bottom of why we as individuals have this reaction, we need someone with more knowledge.