Can You Lose a Finger from a Ring?

A ring is a beautiful symbol of your love and commitment to another person, or a special reminder of someone or something meaningful in your life. For many years those rings have been made of precious metals, such as gold or silver. While they may look nice on your finger, many people have learned that metal rings can have a dangerous caveat: they can actually cause you to lose a finger from an injury called ring avulsion.

What is Ring Avulsion?

The term ring avulsion doesn’t sound serious, but this injury is extremely painful and can result in significant damage to the tissues, bones, tendons, joints, and muscles of your finger. Even in cases where the injury does not initially cause a traumatic amputation, doctors may be forced to amputate your finger if treatment cannot save your finger.

These injuries occur when a hard object around your finger—your metal ring—gets caught on something and is pulled forcefully away from you. The metal ring is made of an extremely hard and durable material, and generally will not break, which means the soft tissues in your finger will suffer the most damage.

Some ring avulsion injuries are not as serious, and may only cause bruising, slight swelling, and pain. Others can remove large areas of tissue and muscle, or cut off the blood supply to your finger, which can necessitate amputation.

Avoiding Ring Avulsion Injuries

The best way to avoid a ring avulsion injury is not to wear a metal ring, especially in situations where there is a risk your ring could get caught on something. Examples of when you should avoid wearing metal rings include:

• Working around heavy machinery or industrial equipment

• Workplaces where there is a risk of electrocution

• Workplaces where you use your hands a lot, such as firefighters or military

• Recreational activities such as rock climbing, mountain biking, gym workouts, soccer, football, etc.

If you still want to be able to wear a ring and just don’t want to risk wearing a metal ring, silicone rings are a great way to avoid the risks of injury to your finger and still have on that symbol of love and commitment. They are designed to break under extreme pressure, saving your finger from injury. Since they are an extremely affordable alternative to metal rings, it’s easy to replace them if something does happen to your silicone wedding ring.

Find a great selection of colors and styles at Enso Rings and get a ring that is safe for all your everyday activities.