Allergic to AirPod Pro eartips

And to accompany the contact Apple Support post, below is a rundown of symptoms/remedies reported in this group with the AirPods Pro over the past 12 months. Also, advocate if you can!

Common Symptoms

• Itching (Very common)
• Pain (Very common)
• Crusting around outside of ear (Very common)
• Fluid drainage (Very common)
• Ear pressure
• Headaches
• Ringing of the ears (later stages for some)
• Partial hearing loss/distortion (later stages for some)
• Apple's list of materials that may cause sensitivity: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211158

Remedies

• Stop wearing them (best and recommended solution)
• See a doctor and don't self medicate. Prescription medicine is needed in some cases (take this issue seriously; it's your hearing). Keeping medical records can help with an Apple refund request too.
• Time (weeks to months to fully recover)
• Very few have had any sustained success with coverings or new tips (stop wearing them is recommended); the tips may not be the only cause.

Advocating

• Contact Apple Support directly and report this allergy shared by many of their APP users. Tell the support agent, "I want to raise a Safety Escalation." And relate your story and the stories of fellow sufferers here.

I’ve been using my left AirPods Pro with the memory foam tips I purchased. So far that’s been doable. I occasionally feel mild itching at the contact point but it doesn’t last very long and it never gets any worse. Without question, the severe reaction I had with heat, swelling, extreme itching & fluid drainage was directly related to the silicone tips. I don’t know why but I do know that was the cause of the more severe reaction.

You have numerous wireless in ear or over the ear options for the iPhone, including the earlier airpods version. There is also an Apple adapter for wired options. The worst and dangerous option is to continue to use the APPs if the allergy persists. Please talk to a doctor.

Had irritation in my ears with using the large and medium ear tips on the AirPod pros.

Switched to the small tips that come in the box and the AirPod pros feel great now. I’m confident I can we’re them all day now.

It’s amazingly interesting how consistent the symptoms are here. I’d love to know whether it truly is an issue with the tips or a biological reaction to just using them in general. Totally bums me out that I can’t use them but hopefully they’ll isolate the issue and future versions will be usable

It is highly likely material within the APPs (ear tips or otherwise). Doctors, including mine, have said rather consistently that it is typical of an allergic reaction.

In addition, many of us have gone on to use alternative products without reactions, although that is not altogether consistent. But once the immune system is triggered, you can get overreactions to similar materials you may not have otherwise. And I don’t believe anyone has reported not being able to use earphones again.

I gave up and started the process of a trying to return these. I’m baffled at this point. I tried the memory foam tip twice. Once for a few minutes and then the next day on a long conversation. I did Not get drainage or itching inside my ear canal when using the memory foam tips these 2 times. Instead I had a different reaction with memory foam tips, itching and no other reaction on the outer ear (the auricle). This makes no sense. I have a memory foam pillow (granted with a pillow case as a barrier) but I’ve never had issues with memory foam and it felt far more comfortable than the silicone. No feeling of heat and definitely no drainage or crusting with memory foam tips but still not usable.

I have a theory that needs confirmation and I can provide it after my new 3rd party silicon tips arrive.

There might be two issues for me. One that is caused by the Apple silicon tips and another that is caused by the black mesh grill of ANC microphone that is pressed against the skin of the ear. I have had nickel allergy before and these symptoms of itching feel familiar.

When new eartips arrive I will try them and for testing purposes have the black mesh parts taped over so there is no contact to my skin and see if there is irritation. If not then i'll remove the tapes and see if I get any issues.

At this point im just curious and have had only mild issues that are itching so no big risk here.

And to accompany the contact Apple Support post, below is a rundown of symptoms/remedies reported in this group with the AirPods Pro over the past 12 months. Also, advocate if you can!

Common Symptoms

• Itching (Very common)
• Pain (Very common)
• Crusting around outside of ear (Very common)
• Fluid drainage (Very common)
• Ear pressure
• Headaches
• Ringing of the ears (later stages for some)
• Partial hearing loss/distortion (later stages for some)
• Apple's list of materials that may cause sensitivity: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211158

Remedies

• Stop wearing them (best and recommended solution)
• See a doctor and don't self medicate. Prescription medicine is needed in some cases (take this issue seriously; it's your hearing). Keeping medical records can help with an Apple refund request too.
• Time (weeks to months to fully recover)
• Very few have had any sustained success with coverings or new tips (stop wearing them is recommended); the tips may not be the only cause.

Advocating

• Contact Apple Support directly and report this allergy shared by many of their APP users. Tell the support agent, "I want to raise a Safety Escalation." And relate your story and the stories of fellow sufferers here.

I bough Bose over the ear and use them as much as I can. But stopped my AirPods Pro many times no ex while taking antibiotics. Disinfect the AirPods and then get back to ear infection. I feel like I have a major chronic issue now. Itching, pain and drainage. My doctor has no idea what it is, ear doctor is not sure how to treat this. It’s pretty bad. I feel like it’s not only me, Apple has some explaining to do. I have a medical background and know it’s the AirPods and it’s very bad at this point.

It’s not good for so many people to have the same issue. I have been to many specialists and got treated for both bacterial and fungal infection. I clean them all the time. I had ear buds from Bose for 7 years. Never cleaned them and never had any issues. I am currently using the smallest tip.

And to accompany the contact Apple Support post, below is a rundown of symptoms/remedies reported in this group with the AirPods Pro over the past 13 months. Also, advocate if you can!

Common Symptoms

• Itching (Very common)
• Pain (Very common)
• Crusting around outside of ear (Very common)
• Fluid drainage (Very common)
• Ear pressure
• Headaches
• Ringing of the ears (later stages for some)
• Partial hearing loss/distortion (later stages for some)
• Apple's list of materials that may cause sensitivity: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211158

Remedies

• Stop wearing them (best and recommended solution)
• See a doctor and don't self medicate. Prescription medicine is needed in some cases (take this issue seriously; it's your hearing). Keeping medical records can help with an Apple refund request too.
• Time (weeks to months to fully recover)
• Very few have had sustained success with coverings or new tips (stop wearing them is recommended); the tips may not be the only cause.

Advocating

• Contact Apple Support directly and report this allergy shared by many of their APP users. Tell the support agent, "I want to raise a Safety Escalation." And relate your story and the stories of fellow sufferers here.

In my opinion as a medical professional it is NOT allergic reaction. The headsets are very powerful and the sound blocking ability might be extremely hard on the surrounding tissue and it creates a massive inflammation of the surrounding tissue with swelling. If you have swollen tissue it leads to bacteria growth. Ear infections in my opinion is a secondary consequence. The device is way to powerful for human tissue to be specially plugged in the head. We all want more powerful and faster and better, but juman body can only take so much.

Well, it's been a few more weeks and my ears were feeling pretty close to better so I figured I'd give the APPs a try again. I only wore them for about 10 minutes and within that time my ears started burning again. This is after swapping the OEM tips for some other silicon tips on Amazon (mind you, I'm not allergic to silicon) so it's certainly not (only) the tips causing this reaction. There is something else used in the composition of these devices and it's wreaking havoc on all our ears.... I'm legitimately surprised there hasn't been a recall or a class-action lawsuit yet. That being said, I promptly returned the APPs to Costco (best return policy ever!) and will probably never purchase another in-ear bud from Apple again. They sound great, but nothing is worth destroying my ears with pain, burning, itching and drainage.

Edit: I'm writing this hours later and my ears are still hurting and don't feel right. I recommend you return your APPs if you are experiencing these symptoms and do not waste your time and money experimenting with random tips from Amazon.

That’s very odd that they say not caused by the APPs because there’s a slew of people in here suffering from the exact same symptoms. Fortunately my case was resolved rather quickly. Hoping escalating yours will get yours resolved.