Allergic to AirPod Pro eartips

As I said before it is very strange that so many people with no previous problem to similar ear tips and similar earphones, now they have in few days these levels of allergy.

As other persons here said in my case have had other side effects because since I had reaction in January with Air pods pro, now I started to have allergy to some adhesives like my blood sugar monitor sensor.

There is something in product components that produces allergy levels to increase.

TLS93 wrote:

I too am having an allergic reaction to the tips, and have never had this happen before. Very disappointed because they certainly are not cheap dollar store earbuds.

Cheap dollar store earbuds would most likely be made of plastic, not silicone. People are much less likely to be allergic to cheap plastic than silicone. It's unfortunate but your immune system only cares what things are made of, not what they cost.

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.

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 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?

OMG! I thought I was insane... I’ve had the same issue... the nurses where I work told me I must be over cleaning and I assumed they were right.. left my ears alone used my SOLO beats when working out until my ears recovered.. eventually I decided to start running with my Pro’s again and the pain, irritation, itchy, tenderness, came back.. so I stopped using them again to make sure it was in fact my Pro’s and sure enough all the problems went away.... to bad I can’t return them.

Apple Support will definitely work with you in providing a refund, even if you're past the return date. They'll probably ask for a bunch of evidence to support your claim, but it's worth it to escalate the issue for you and for them.

Same problem. Wore them for about 3 weeks before the problem started. Apple said I had to go back to Best Buy to return them. This really is a shame because I LOVED these, but can't use them due to the allergic reaction I'm having. Itchy/redness/drainage. This is just unacceptable.

Hi. Has anyone tried these: https://www.amazon.com/DamonLight-Comfortable-Listening-Compatible-Accessories2/dp/B083J464PM?th=1

They cover the part that goes in your ear. I personally wasn't having a reaction on the outside of my ear so I wonder if these, in combination with third party tips, might cover enough to prevent the reaction.

Mine were 6 months old and I kept the original receipt for them.

I did answer a lot of questions, I also sent a lot of pictures which they asked for.

I also allowed them to be sent Ireland 🇮🇪 for testing.

Is it possible that you didn’t answer enough questions, or send photo’s. And is it possible that this why you didn’t get refund.

I am not you and can not answer for you but I do find it very strange that they are refusing to refund you.

But if you go through the thread, almost everyone that has contacted Apple, has received refund once they allowed Apple to investigate the issue.

For me the reactions started fairly quickly. I did try the foam tips but it had the affect but took longer start the reaction.

I opted to send them for testing, which Apple paid the postage to return them.

But then sadly they needed to tested more, that’s when they told I was getting refund. But I had only had mine for 3 months.

I am still healing from the last reaction, on Friday I have finally spoken to the doctor who has given me a prescription to clear the last remaining part of this.

Apple have just announced new head phones, so I am going to wait and see what features they before I perhaps go and buy another pair of the original AirPods.

I do think it’s something to do with the seal that the pro have to do the noise cancelling feature and not the tips.

Just googled this because it’s the third time I’ve woken up with itchy ear and drainage after using them to watch videos in bed before sleep. In a few days my ears will crust inside I’ll be very self conscious of it.

It’s frightening to think Apple might have caused a permanent allergic reaction to other tips. I very much hope not because I can’t use over the ear head phones.

Thanks for posting everyone. Glad people found the connection. Hopefully everyone who experiences this will realize what it is so they will not cause further damage.

dlacaille: I saw your post and you are spot on. As crude as it sounds, the leakage with "crusty ears" is exactly what I had whenever I used the pros. It now occurs within 24 hours of using them, and I will not go back to trying them again. I would need a lot of convincing/validation from this group that there was some solution to even consider it (especially now that pain and sleep disruption have become symptoms); even then it is unlikely.

Anyone new reading all of this, you are not alone. Just stop using pros and let others know about it.

The first gen AirPods were some kind of hard plastic. The AirPod Pros are some kind of soft silicone. Apple hasn't disclosed the actual chemical makeup of either, as far as I know.

I appreciate the hypothesizing about noise cancelation, it's fun, but it is physically impossible for that feature to cause the skin in a person's ears to crust over and ooze like ours do.

Noise cancelation is the process of the headphones playing an inverse frequency so similar to the ambient noise around you that it cancels out that ambient noise, so only the sound you're playing from your headphones remains. To say that it could be the noise canceling feature causing this reaction would mean that simply playing another sound wave at the same time as your music/podcast/call is enough to cause your skin to react.

Noise cancelation has been involved in headphones for many, many years. If this was something that a processor, an algorithm, and some tiny speakers could do, it would be much more prevalent in other brands/models of headphones/earphones that do the same thing, and a more commonly reported issue for users of all those other headphones. Noise cancelation can't malfunciton to the degree that it hurts your skin, it just stops canceling noise efficiently.

To illustrate: I don't use the noise-cancelation feature. My symptoms are in-line with everyone else on this thread. I'm not saying that everyone here is experiencing the exact same thing, but I am saying that it's not the noise canceling feature.

If you still believe noise canceling is the issue, you can try putting the AirPod Pros in your ears when the batteries on them are completely empty and no noise cancelation or energy release is possible. I would bet that your skin reaction still occurs.

Hi all: I bought replacement tips and also these “covers:” DamonLight AirPods Pro Cover [Fit... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082X4QK4N?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I have not actually tested both yet as I wanted my ears to heal but I thought I’d share in the interim.