Adverse effects of Apple Watch Ultra

See the 'For people who are sensitive to certain materials' and 'What's in your Apple Watch' sections in:

Wearing your Apple Watch - Apple Support

I had the same issue with 45 mm series 9. Used it almost 15 hours a day including sleep. With in three days, one day woke up and big burn right under the sensor. So moved it on to the right hand for two days then slowly light red color started to form. Returned this and got same another one . Washed the strap and watch with hand soap while the watch is shutdown and after they dried used watch case only for the screen and stopped the heart rate sensor and been using without sleeping in the night yet and no burn in at all.

I read several pages of this forum and reddit for some reason it seems to be the heart rate sensor working overly causing this. Or the sensor on the previous watch is faulty. Try to stop heart rate sensor use it and check.

I'd like to know how often you're all cleaning the underside of your watch, and how much room the skin has to breathe under the watch. Start with the simple explanations before leaping to phenomena like IR or EM radiation.

I've been wearing an Apple Watch of some description (series 3, series 5, not Ultra) since around 2018. I've not had any issues over 5+ years, except in the beginning when I had the strap too tight. I have mine on the loose side, I can easily slide one finger between strap and wrist, and can force two fingers in. It depends of course on how hot the weather is, my body temp, etc - on a really hot day it might feel a bit tighter.

Let's not forget that if we wore the same socks for 36 hours, we'd expect to get irritated skin from our own sweat irritating the skin on our feet. This is a device that many people wear 24x7 (including myself), and it's therefore on the skin for longer periods than a wristwatch, but also this makes it likely to build up sweat or other contaminants that could irritate the skin. How many of you are rinsing and wiping down the wrist-facing surface of the watch every day? My friend's Ultra absolutely stinks like a pair of week-old gym socks, and that's just from gunk buildup around where the strap meets the watch body.

I'm not trying to write off or minimise the OP's issue, I fully accept that others have got concerns and real, visible issues they're experiencing. But why don't we eliminate the tangible and simple possibilities first, the ones that we can act on, the ones that apply to any man-made material held against human skin for 24+ hours.

I bought the Ultra 2 watch in October of 2023 I had worn it almost 2 months when I noticed a circular burn mark under the watch. I took a picture of the burn mark because I was shocked that this happened. I took the watch into the Apple Store and had them look at burn mark. They took the watch from me and said they would try and find out why this happened and apologized to me. I am now waiting to hear back from Apple.

jwp3313 wrote:

I had the same problem but even at a worst degree. Only after one night of wearing my brand new watch, I woke up with a severe discomfort on the skin and muscle beneath the watch, as soon as I woke up it felt like somebody had been hitting my wrist with a hammer all night,

Some people have an unusual nerve placement in their wrists. If the watch is too tight and/or if you sleep on top of your wrist, the watch can press uncomfortably and cause pain. This would be the case with any large watch. Wearing a watch, any watch, at night may not be a good option for you. People who have this problem can sometimes resolve it by loosening the watch band, moving it higher or lower on their wrist, switching wrists or just not wearing it at night.

I can't say I understand why you would try to dissuade someone who doesn't have this problem from wearing the watch.

I have an Apple iWatch Ultra2 and have been having similar issues. I have worn a watch on my left hand for most of my life, including several different iWatches, and this is the first time I have experienced anything like this.

I experimented by moved my Ultra2 to my right hand while my left heals. The picture below is my left wrist after a full week of not wearing the Ultra2. After a few days on my right wrist I started to feel a similar irritation, but nothing noticeable on my skin.

Until I happened upon this posting I assumed I was just wearing the Ultra2 too tight, so I consistently loosened the band, but that did little to relieve the discomfort.

I have no known allergies to anything, so I am skeptical that this is a material allergy. I just turned off the O2 sensor to see if that is the cause of the irritation. I will report back in a few days on my results.

Your a Dr.?

See a Dermatologist!

I’m not a doctor, but that looks very similar to dermatitis. Have you seen a dermatologist about it?

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"I encountered a similar issue with my Apple Watch 9, experiencing a burn blister approximately 6mm in diameter within just two weeks of use. Apple promptly accepted the return, and I opted to upgrade to the Ultra 2 model. I wear it consistently on my left wrist, except during charging sessions. However, my right wrist took some time to fully heal from the initial injury.

After five weeks of wearing the new Ultra 2, I noticed a significant red blotch, reminiscent of sunburn but without any discomfort. Unlike the pinpoint burn blister from the Apple Watch 9, this time it's a 2 cm red patch. As a precaution, I've switched to wearing the watch on my right wrist temporarily. I'll provide updates as the situation progresses.....

I have this same problem. And I also noticed an abnormal twinge in my bicep and found it to be happening at a precisely spaced interval and removed my watch and it stopped.

here you can see the light scarring

Funny, no one posts a diagnosis or prescription for treatment. I’ve not read a single comment anbout anyone going to an allergist to be tested. What I’ve seen here could just as easily be a reaction, some severe, to Nickel.

>>In fact, it is estimated that more than 18 percent of people in North America are allergic to nickel, including 11 million children in the U.S.<<

That translates to approximately 105 million people just in the US and Canada that have nickel allergies. Just using common sense, the vast majority of these should be nickel allergies. Yet, not a single post about nickel allergies. Why do you suppose that is? The uneducated search the internet for topics like >watch burns< and find a few posts and assume, that must be it. The posters are people with no testing, no diagnosis, no treatment and spouting misinformation.

In regard to what caused it, you’re correct. It wasn’t you, it wasn’t your watch,, but your hyper sensitivity to know element that almost 20% of the population is allergic/sensitive to. There’s no crime in that.

https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/eczema/insider/nickel-allergy

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/nickel-allergy/symptoms-causes/syc-20351529

jwp3313 wrote:

LD150, think before you speak.... i've not noticed you're quick to respond to many people without using your brain first. Clearly, it's the watch, but clearly it affects some negatively while not affecting others, but as anyone with sense would concur, the watch is the unknown variable, and in my case as well as many others evidently, this watch has a consistent adverse affect on those of us who are seemingly hypersensitive to it including the physician who commenced this thread. I didn't have these issues until I wore the watch, so you stand corrected, it's NOT me that caused this, it WAS the watch.

Stop wearing it. Your skin or your skincare routine is not compatible with Watch, express it however you wish.