As a healthcare professional, you want to provide the highest standard of care possible. When a patient arrives with a stuck ring that has significant sentimental meaning, of course you want to remove it intact and without ring or finger damage if possible. In some cases, this is easier said than done. Here’s an example where a “Ring Block” (also called Digital Block or Metacarpal Block) is used, but there are some important considerations if you’re going to use a Ring Block along with different ring removal strategies.

Case:

A patient arrived at a local hospital with a stuck ring due to swelling caused by an injury to the finger. The injury occurred when her dog was spooked by wildlife on a walk causing the leash to jolt and catch her finger, with resulting finger injury and progressive swelling. The stuck ring is a custom ring, made up of several rings from three generations of family with nine diamonds placed throughout the wide, intricately designed band, with engraving on the inside surface. 

Upon arrival at the first hospital, a nurse attempted to remove the ring by tightly wrapping the green elastic band taken from a hospital oxygen mask, around the finger. The patient was experiencing significant discomfort, so they used a Ring Block to help alleviate the pain. Importantly, with a Ring Block in place the patient cannot give feedback about additional pain, including if/when additional tissue damage is being inflicted. Once “frozen”, they made multiple attempts wrapping the finger with an oxygen mask band and taking turns trying to wiggle the ring off the finger. Although the patient tolerated this much better after the Ring Block, these attempts indeed caused the finger to become bruised and more swollen. With no success, they decided to attempt ring cutting, which had its own challenges.

They initially tried a manual ring cutter but it was completely ineffective against this type of ring. They then resorted to using a high-powered rotary tool (i.e. Dremel), but after several minutes of cutting there was minimal progress made. Realizing they didn’t have the tools to be successful, the physician on duty then called another local hospital where he knew they had the Ring Rescue Compression Device. The patient was transferred to the second hospital in hopes the stuck ring situation could be resolved.

Upon arrival at the second hospital, the patient was assessed and an X-ray was done to further assess the patient’s finger injury before proceeding. There was a minor avulsion fracture noted, but no unstable injury, and the physician discussed with the patient their preferences around different ring removal approaches. The patient was very motivated to try to remove their ring intact, without ring cutting, if at all possible. Based on this, the physician then determined it was reasonable to attempt the Compression Device technique in this unique scenario. Because the physician knew that manipulation of the ring would need to be used for this technique, the physician reapplied a Ring Block.

The Ring Rescue Compression Device was applied for 2 rounds of compression to shrink finger size. It is important to recognize that string wrap techniques often exert very high point-load forces which is why they are painful and often cause bruising, increased swelling and may add to tissue damage. However, the Compression Device applies uniform compression forces that are within the safe zone for finger tissues and as such, it was felt reasonable to use the Compression Device in the context of a Ring Block in this case.

After finger size was reduced, the physician then used proper ring manipulation techniques and lubrication, and was able to slowly manipulate the ring off of the finger, resulting in the ring being removed intact. A second X-Ray was performed after ring removal, and you can see above that there was no adverse change in the fracture, and the finger did not sustain any bruising or additional swelling and injury, and in fact as you can see in the photo below the finger had significant overall improvement.

This case is a great example of the Ring Rescue Compression Device successfully aiding in non-destructive stuck ring removal, in this unique case of an injured finger, when traditional methods such as string wraps and ring cutting using legacy tools had failed.

As a first-line approach in ring removal, string wraps should be discouraged as they can increase tissue damage and make the problem worse if they are unsuccessful. “Do no harm” whenever possible.

For a further in-depth review of this case, please see the video below.

About Ring Rescue Inc.  

Ring Rescue is a medical device manufacturer that provides innovative, safe and purpose-built solutions for stuck ring management. Their first of its kind, patented Compression Device, reduces finger swelling to aid in the removal of stuck rings non-destructively. Ring Rescue solutions are used by healthcare, fire/EMS, jewelry and funeral services professionals to provide an effective solution for a common problem. To date their products have aided in saving thousands of sentimental and valuable rings worldwide, furthering the company’s position as the authority in stuck ring removal.