what metal should my wedding ring be?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am getting ready to get engaged and since I am in nursing school I want to get a metal that will stand up to the crazy amounts of hand washing I will be doing. I dont want my ring or diamonds to dull. Does anyone have any advice for me??

Specializes in Assisted Living nursing, LTC/SNF nursing.

I was always afraid of giving someone a skin tear with my engagement/wedding ring so for a birthday, my husband gave me a nice, simple wedding band to wear to work. With the band, I don't worry about soap, anti-bacterial hand gels. tons of lotion for dry hands ruining my wedding set. Of course, when I go out with my husband or whatever, I changed my rings along with my watch. Was always used to not wearing my rings and watch at home anyway.

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Specializes in pedi, pedi psych,dd, school ,home health.

I have gold... with inset diamonds (nothin flashy...not my style) but I did have to replace my original high cut solitaire ring with a lower set engagement ring...as i was forever bending the prongs while bed making etc ,

funny story you reminded me of; got engaged in NS we were not allowed to wear jewelry on the floor ... used to pin my ring inside my pocket for safety. one day I looked and the safety pin was open and NO RING!!:uhoh21: Needless to say i broke into tears ( I was only 20 at the time and dh had saved every penny for a year to buy it ) sooo we searched pt rooms report room etc...and I had my most respected, toughest instructor on her hand s and knees in the dirty utility room looking thru the dirty laundry with me. :o

a few minutes later .... it fell out of the hem of my uniform:monkeydance: I was totally embarrased but as she said; we learned that she really cared about us ... and after that made sure I left it in a more secure place!

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Okay, I'll be the voice of dissention here. I got married almost a year ago. We didn't do a big fancy engagement ring or anything, but my husband's mother and grandmother gifted us with his grandmother's beautiful diamond ring. None of the diamonds are huge, there are 7 diamonds in the center that are the oblong cut (sorry I'm not cool enough to know what that cut is and then 8 teeny-tiny little round ones on each side of those 7.

It is a way more fancy ring than we could have afforded, and I feel so lucky that my in-laws wanted me to have it.

And I wear it to work.

I wash my hands like crazy, and we have the heavy nitrile gloves in the rooms. My ring has never torn through one of those.

I was a little paranoid about it at first, but I also noticed that there are rings a lot more gaudy, ostentatious, etc. that people wear.

I just wash really well, the ring is platinum, and if I feel particularly ishy after a night at work, I drop it in rubbing alcohol when I get home. . . . .

Enjoy your engagement.

And your ring.

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I never wear my diamond engagement ring to clinicals (I'm still in school). But I never take off my wedding ring which is a plain gold band. I've noticed that the frequent handwashing and using of Purell' or any other alcohol hand wash seems to keep the gold shiny.

Frequent hand washing will not harm a diamond in any way. But it does tend to dull it only for the reason of the soap getting under and around the diamond.

My best suggestion to you is leave your engagement ring at home and if your wedding band is anything other than a plain, smooth ring, leave that home too. Its too easy for "yuckies" of all sorts to find hiding places in rings with stones or grooves. Not to mention like the other posters have pointed out, it is very easy to tear gloves with rings on, its very easy to scratch or hurt a patient with rings that aren't smooth, and honestly do you want to lose any of the stones?

Just a little story that came to mind. Years back while working as a CNA, one of my FAVORITE RN's became engaged. She had a gorgous solitare diamond...and mighty big too. She often did rounds with the CNA's to help out (did I mention I loved this nurse LOL). Anyway, during rounds with me, I happened to look down at her hand and noticed that her diamond was no longer in the setting...I asked her where her diamond was and she looked down and burst into tears. She had only had the ring a week.

After we fininshed rounds. We looked high and low for that ring. We looked everywhere and couldn't find it. She finally told us all to forget it, that it was a lost cause. Poor girl was devestated.

During last rounds, she came with me again. As we were checking the last patient of our shift, I happened to noticed a "glimmer" coming off the patient. This woman was very obese. After a more careful inspection of this womans abdomen, I realized that the "glimmer" was coming from her belly button. And lo and behold, INSIDE THAT BELLY BUTTON sat the nurses "lost" diamond!!! :lol2: We affectionatly called that patient (never within ear shot of patients or vistors) our "Buddah" after that.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I would highly suggest getting platinum, and a stone with a low setting (if possible).

I have white gold with a 1.7 carat princess cut, and diamonds set in on the side (so a little over 2 carats.)

The white gold has a high nickel content in it, unbeknownst to me or my fiance....and i am highly allergic. So I only wear my ring about once a week for a few hours until i have the time and extra cash to get the stones reset in platinum.

Plus, the stone is high set because of it's size, and getting gloves on is nearly impossible...the rips, tears, and discomfort.

Leave the ring at home when you get it, and enjoy it when you're not at home or school! :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

And just another side note, I feel that it is a little unkind to be deeming people's rings as "gaudy" and such. I had one woman in my anatomy course a year ago who looked at my ring and said "yeah, I really didn't want a flashy ring like that when I got engaged years ago".....

....rude.

My fiance is an engineer and worked hard to buy my sparkly piece of joy. And I love it

(Congrats, by the way)

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I am really surprised that you are even allowed to wear any ring other than a plain wedding band. In the UK the policy is that the only jewelry allowed is a wedding band - without stines etc and a single pair of plain metal stud earrings. No neck chains, bracelets, wrist watches etc. If nurses are caught wearing these they are told to remove them and if they continue they would be taken down a disciplinary route - in theory it could lead to dismissal. It is well documented that you can harbour bacteria in the crevices in stones etc and with the high incidence of hospital acquired infections and people suing the NHS is taking a very hard stance on this.

As a seperate point - we use silver dressings as they are effective both in preventing and treating MRSA and other bacterias - so I suppose a silver wedding ring would be best - although I'm sure you would want a more traditional metal?

In the US we are allowed, as a general rule, to wear non-dangling (or barely dangling) earrings, wedding/engagement bands, class rings, simple necklaces (although they are not advised), and watches.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Med-Surg, Cardiology.

congrats on your engagement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:balloons:

i would not wear it at work though or if you did, place it on a necklace. you may lose it if you take it off to wash hands or like many have said..have it as a medium for bacteria:nono:.

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I see many people recommending and I believe they are correct saying it is a very durable. With that said I will add that gold though probably a softer metal holds up very well and is far less expensive (incase that is a concern for you) Also the less gold 14 Karat vs pure 24 karat the harder it is and therefore will stand up better to wear. I wear white gold which people assume is platinum.

As for dulling your diamond. The only thing that will dull your diamond is if it is not clean. Diamonds unlike most other stones stands up well to cleaning. So well that the very best cleaner you can use is amonia (do not use this on any other stone) The ammonia will not harm your gold setting. Cleaning your diamond with ammonia and a brush will remove anything that dulls your stone and will make it sparkle as it was meant to.

I suggest a setting that does not easily catch on things, a low setting as already suggested. A high tiffany setting could cause you some problems in this regard.

Cngratualtions! If you can afford the platinum go for it.

M

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Specializes in oncology.

I have a yellow gold wedding band w/ diamonds and a solitare engagement ring. Wearing them to work has been fine. . they are a snug fit so don't slide off with glove changes. I clean them regularly. The rings are beautiful! I'm proud to be married and would feel strange without my rings on! I have a coworker with a white gold set, and have noticed that the white gold has become yellowed/discolored d/t the alcohol hand sanitizers (foam/gel) that we are required to use. So, keep that in mind. If you like the look of white gold, consider platinum!

God Bless and congrats!

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I have a coworker with a white gold set, and have noticed that the white gold has become yellowed/discolored d/t the alcohol hand sanitizers (foam/gel) that we are required to use. So, keep that in mind. If you like the look of white gold, consider platinum!

God Bless and congrats!

Hmm! interesting I have not had that problem!

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Specializes in Home Health, Case Management, OR.
I have a yellow gold wedding band w/ diamonds and a solitare engagement ring. Wearing them to work has been fine. . they are a snug fit so don't slide off with glove changes. I clean them regularly. The rings are beautiful! I'm proud to be married and would feel strange without my rings on! I have a coworker with a white gold set, and have noticed that the white gold has become yellowed/discolored d/t the alcohol hand sanitizers (foam/gel) that we are required to use. So, keep that in mind. If you like the look of white gold, consider platinum!

God Bless and congrats!

Yep that is the problem with white gold. My ring as well as my moms rings both start to turn the slightest yellowish tinge after awhile. The jeweler says it is caused by all the hand washing, gloves, soaps, cleaners and that they just need to be rodium plated again, since really there is no such thing as white gold it is yellow gold with something else mixed it it (if I had the motivation I would google it haha).

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