getting ring off of swollen finger

[disneydave2003]

DW can't get her ring off her finger. it's pretty swollen and has tried ice, elevating it, lotion, liquid soap and twisting it back and forth while moving it upwards. the more she tries the more swollen it gets. are there any other tricks out there short of cutting it off? the ring not the finger . she is having minor surgery next week and you arent allowed to wear any jewelry so she's desperatley trying to get if off so they won't cut it off.

 

[HeatherC]

Drink a gallon of water. Seriously. She may be retaining fluids. After she has flushed her system continue trying all the other things you mentioned.

Shouldn't be a problem for surgery....at least for me they let me keep my wedding band on since I couldn't get it off at the time.

Good luck!

 

[merrily]

Use dental floss. You can google it. It does work.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I have had success with the dental floss method. I also have left them on for surgery when I said I couldn't get them off. They tape them to your finger. (My mom/a nurse said they were always taught they couldn't tape rings with gems in them, but one of mine is a smooth diamond and they did it.)

 

[agnes!]

When I had surgery in October I was told no jewelry and assumed that they would cut my ring off if I couldn't get it off. A couple of things...

*check with the hospital/surgical suite to see what their policy really is. If they leave unremovable jewelry on and won't cut it off, your wife can just leave the ring on & deal with getting it off at some other time.
If they will cut it off...
*have her soak her hand in cold water - the osmotic pressure (what makes your fingers wrinkle up in dishwater) might make it so the ring can be removed.
*If that doesn't work, go to a full-service jeweler and have them cut it off for you. That way the trauma is dealt with on your terms, not the hospital's.

Then wait for the swelling to go down and get her a new ring or get this one re-sized.

And make the ring a *really* nice one to ease the pain .
agnes!

 

[englishteacha]

When my dad was in the hospital, one of the nurses sprayed his hand with windex and that got the ring off. Making the hand cold will make the hand shrink, so that will help, too.

 

[VeganCupcake]

When my dad was in the hospital, one of the nurses sprayed his hand with windex and that got the ring off.

All I could think about was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" when I read this!

Seriously though, drinking more water and avoiding salt for a day should help!

 

[wenrob]

Windex does work. Our jeweler used it on a ring stuck on DH's finger for years. I have used it successfully as well.

First thing I would do it to have her stop trying to get it off for a few days. At this point she's just making it worse. Then as others have said, avoid salt, drink a ton of water and maybe try the the cold method followed by the Windex.

FWIW my mother is someone who refuses to take off her her wedding rings at all and they just tape them, stone and all.

 

[Rumpus]

I have used all of the above and to no avail. I did have to remove my ring because I was having surgery on that arm, so no choice. They cut it off when I got to the hospital.

 

[lakelandgal70]

I run into this sometimes. Fingers swell for whatever reason. I just run my hands under cold water and then the ring slips right off.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

I once had a ring stuck on my finger during my first pregnancy. It bothered me so much I went to the jewelers to have it cut off. They gave me a good discount for putting it back together also.

 

[HOGFAN]

buy a roll of sausage(cheaper and fatter the better)..handle it like you would if you were mixing hamburgetr patties. the fat should help it come off

 

[Hannathy]

Use the Dental floss. Wrapping it very very tight. It will take a long time because you can only go a small amount at a time, and it won't be comfortable but you can get very small things off this way. In the ER we use sutures but have removed some unusual small things off of fingers. If the ring isn't cutting off the circulation now I would leave it alone for a day or two and let the swelling you have caused go down before trying again.

The only way this won't work is if the ring wouldn't fit over her knuckle now due to arthritis, having grown or an injury. In other words the floss work on objects that went on over the knuckle.

 

[castmemberb4]

If she does end up having to have it cut off I agree with the person who said go to a jeweler, that way it will be a clean easy to fix cut and not mangeled.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Lip balm. Rub lip balm around your finger above (and below the ring) and start twisting.

 

[MariDisney]

Wish I had some advice. I had to had my engagement and wedding rings cut off in October because I couldn't get the swelling to go down. Only my finger was swollen, no other part of my body.

 

[OK!]

I've had luck with hair conditioner before. In fact, I have to be careful with the ring I have now (I never take it off) because if for some reason I flail my arms in the shower after putting conditioner on, the ring'll fly right off.

Not that I flail often, but once there was an incident with a spider and my ring ended up in the corner of the bathroom.

 

[NotUrsula]

The dental floss method; best to use Goretex floss, as it is thin and strong.

Liberally coat the ring and finger with pain-killing ointment, such as Neosporin (the pressure of the winding is going to hurt, so analgesics help with that.) Use a blunt sewng needle to get a long tail of floss under the ring, then tightly mummy-wrap the finger tightly with the floss, starting as close to the ring as you can get and winding toward the fingertip. Once you have all of the finger wrapped, start slowly unwinding the floss using the tail that is under the ring -- as you unwind it the ring will move toward and over her knuckles.

 

[bumbershoot]

You probably have already figured it out, but....

When my dad was in the hospital, one of the nurses sprayed his hand with windex and that got the ring off.

Yep, that!

The day I discovered that all my weird and disturbing symptoms were caused by being almost deathly allergic to naproxen sodium (Aleve) was the day that my finger sausaged-up, shrank down, went back up again, and so on. It finally swelled up and stayed there. I was trying to get my ring off; it is platinum and it is thick, so it would have been an expensive problem to cut it off.

While I was flailing around putting goopy stuff on it etc etc, my roommate was on the phone with a friend, and the friend suggested Windex!

I spritzed, it slipped right off like magic. Later I found out it's a jeweler's trick (cleans things nicely too).

And this was during the time that Big Fat Greek Wedding was current, so it was hilarious. And useful!

 

[stm61]

I was in the Air Force and there was a major inspection on base. Because of the unit type I was assigned to, even though I worked mainly in an office, the unit commander said absolutely no rings. I could not get my wedding ring off to save my life. Tried, ice water, hot water, soap, everything I could think of short of axle grease. What finally worked was olive oil. I coated my finger and twisted the ring as I pulled it up. Wish I'd of known about the windex, that's much easier to clean up then oil is.