What to Do When a Ring Is Stuck on Your Finger?

There are few feelings as dreadful as realizing a ring is stuck on your finger. Suddenly, a thing of beauty has turned into a thing of horror – your cherished piece of jewelry has trapped you and you just might have to destroy it. Fortunately, there are some tricks on how to get a stuck ring off easily!

A Warning Before We Go On

If your finger is injured in any way, getting a stuck ring off can cause the injury to worsen. If your finger has turned a different color, or if you feel a tingling sensation, see a doctor immediately. Remember, your health is more important than jewelry, and anything more serious than normal swelling needs medical attention.

What to Do When a Ring is Stuck on Your Finger

The absolute first step of how to remove a stuck ring is to stay calm. It’s very easy to give in to panic, and if you do, you will likely try to pull it free by force. This is a bad idea. You can easily irritate your finger and cause even more swelling and itching.

Instead, cajole your ring off. Relax your hand and finger as much as you possibly can and use gentle twists and turns to try to get the ring off. This way, you won’t have to worry about hurting your hand or accidentally damaging your ring.

If the ring still won’t move, you should stop, and give your hand(s) a rest. Then, try to reduce the swelling by putting your hand under a stream of cool water, or cover your finger with some ice for 10 to 15 minutes. Once you notice the swelling’s lessened, try to remove your ring gently.

If the ring still stays stubbornly on, try some of these techniques:

• Make Your Finger Slippery

You can use soap or petroleum jelly to make your finger slippery. This will boost your efforts, and the ring might just slide off. Remember not to yank and pull because you’ll irritate your finger.

• Use Plastic Wrap and Butter

Wrap your finger in plastic wrap in a way that one side of it is as close to the ring as it can be. Make sure you’ve wrapped your finger fairly tightly. Then, take a tiny bit of butter and spread it around the ring. This will give the lubrication necessary for easy removal. 

Gently twist and turn your ring off. The ring should travel the length of the plastic wrap around your finger. Once you’ve gotten past the knuckle, you can remove the wrap and simply remove your ring from your finger! 

• Use Dental Floss or String

Even Harvard has a thing to say about how to get a ring off –  their method involves a string or dental floss!

Pass one end of the string under the ring, and use the rest to tightly wrap around your whole finger. Make sure the string is even and smooth. Once you’ve done that, take the piece of the string that you’ve passed under the ring, and begin unwinding it. The ring should be moving along with the string as you unwrap your finger. 

If Nothing Works

If you find that the ring won’t budge, and your finger is showing some worrying symptoms, seek help. A jeweler will likely have to cut the ring off, but losing a ring is far better than losing a finger! Now you don’t need to worry about struck rings anymore! In case you’d like your ring resized or modified in any way, drop by one of our jewelry stores in Miami, Florida, and we’ll make sure your jewelry fits your seamlessly!