Removing Rings
May/June 2011 ISSN-1059-6518 Volume 24 Number 3
By Frank Hubbell, DO
Illustrations by T.B.R. Walsh
Removing Rings
How do you get a ring off a swollen finger?
There are two problems with rings on swollen fingers: the finger and the ring.
The primary problem is the swollen, tender finger. It can be swollen for a variety of reasons, most commonly because of minor trauma that sprained the finger causing it to swell. The other problem is the ring itself and what it is made of. If it is gold, silver, nickel, or brass, then one of the options is to simply cut the ring and have it repaired by a jeweler, assuming that you have a ring cutter to begin with. The real problem occurs with rings that are made out of very hard metals, such as titanium, which are popular wedding bands these days. The difficulty is simply that you are not going to cut through a titanium ring with a ring cutter.
