Have you ever seen.....?

Specialties Emergency

Published

...a finger being amputated because it was jammed and the man had on a titanium wedding band? I was just having my ring cleaned in the jewelry store and was telling the salesperson that my husband has a titanium wedding band. She said that she never recommends those to people because if the man jams his finger, the whole thing has to be amputated because a titanium band is too strong to be cut off.

Is this true? If so, my husband and I better go shopping for a new band! But not at that store, because now I feel like she was just telling me that so that we would buy a new ring from her.

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i have never heard/seen that.

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As a recently married woman who bought my DH a titanium ring...I can tell you it's a myth. :)

Megan

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

That's a scary thought........my son-in-law-to-be works out in the woods, and HE wants a titanium wedding band. Oh well, he's got nine other digits........;)

Seriously, I hadn't heard that, and I can't imagine any kind of metal being so strong that NOTHING can get through it. Titanium is definitely more durable than the average metal, which would make it perfect for people who do a lot with their hands, ergo, my lumberjack son-in-law-to-be has made a good decision. I'll just have to caution him about jamming his ring finger.:)

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I found this in a quick search:

Q: Can a Titanium ring be cut off?

A: Yes! Please be aware that in any situation where it might become necessary to cut off a Titanium ring - for instance excessive weight gain, hand injury, etc., - cutting through titanium will be more difficult than cutting through gold or platinum. However, it can still be done. In our own jewelry shop, we used a separating disc and flexible shaft tool-items commonly found in nearly all jewelry shops that work with gold, silver, and platinum--to cut through one of our 5mm domed and comfort fit titanium rings. Cutting it all the way through took only 20 seconds. Next, we contacted our local hospital emergency room and asked if they were equipped to cut off a titanium ring in an emergency. Most hospital emergency rooms are prepared to handle almost anything, and ours assured us that it would be no problem for them.

During our 28 years of jewelry repair experience, we've only seen a dozen or so rings that have been cut off in hospital emergency rooms, and in most of those cases the rings had been bent out-of-round and were putting painful pressure on the finger. Titanium rings are less likely to crush or bend out-of-round, so if you shut your hand in a car door or drop a heavy object on it, it might be safer to be wearing a titanium ring than a precious metal band! Nonetheless, if you ever need your Titanium ring cut off, just contact a local jeweler that uses separating discs. Please check with your local medical facility if you have concerns.

Hope that helps!

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Thanks, SchlNrsKrn! I want to print this out and bring it to the jeweler who scared me to death with her theory. There's no telling how many other people she's told that to.

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yes it actually happens, although most of the time you may get a degloving injury. It usually happens when a man (or woman I guess) gets a ring caught on something as they are exiting say the back of a truck. When they jump off, the ring gets caught on something and if there is enough force (and body fat and height of jump), you would be impressed with the injury.

An ex-astronaut actually amputated his finger a few years back (I think it was Alan Sheppard).

I guess another good excuse as to not getting married!!

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Originally posted by harry Krishna

I guess another good excuse as to not getting married!!

:D :chuckle :D :chuckle

way too funn! HA HA HA!

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