How To Use Dental Floss To Get A Ring Off A Swollen Finger

It’s not a good idea to leave a ring on your finger when it’s swollen. If you’re trying to remove the ring and can’t, dental floss may be able to help. It’s hard to get a swollen finger into the opening of a ring, and even if you do manage it, getting the ring off will probably hurt. The best way to deal with this problem is to simply take off the ring when your finger isn’t swollen (usually in the morning). But if that’s not an option for you, there are some things you can try.

First, try to use an elastic bandage or medical tape instead of a ring. This will make it easier for your fingers to fit into narrow spaces like rings or bracelets while still protecting them from injury while they heal. You can also try taking off smaller pieces of jewelry one at a time until there’s nothing left on your finger except for the part that needs medical attention. If these don’t work for you, dental floss may help get through tight spaces like rings or bracelets without damaging them or making it difficult for your fingers to fit inside them again later on when they’re no longer swollen from injury or infection/inflammation (swelling).

You may find it hard to access the right information on the internet, so we are here to help you in the following article, providing how to reduce swelling in fingers to remove ring and how to get a ring off a swollen finger without cutting it

How To Use Dental Floss To Get A Ring Off A Swollen Finger

It’s easy to take your ability to remove a ring off your finger for granted until you suddenly…can’t. That’s what happened to one woman, who went viral for a TikTok detailing her struggle.

TikTok user @quenblackwell, whose real name is Quenlin Blackwell, shared an intense video that clearly spelled out what happened when she realized she couldn’t remove a ring on her pointer finger. “I’m trying very hard not to panic,” she said repeatedly in the beginning of the video, as she showed the ring on her swollen finger. “I started taking videos to distract myself or I’m going to start sobbing,” she said, before pointing out that her finger looked “like a carrot.”

Cut to a shot of Blackwell walking to her local fire station. There, a firefighter used a special device to cut the ring open, as Blackwell breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ve been trying not to panic all day,” she says. She exclaimed “I’m free!” as she left the fire station.

Blackwell also shared in the comments that her whole ordeal started when she woke up and her finger was “3x bigger than usual.” Plenty of people sympathized. “My heart rate went up watching this,” one wrote in the comments. “This video gave me so much anxiety,” another said.

The video, which has been viewed more than 11 million times, raises some questions. Namely, how can a ring get stuck on your finger, and what are you supposed to do if it happens? Experts weigh in.

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Why does a ring get stuck on your finger?

For starters, this happens more often than you’d think. “It’s pretty common,” Lewis Nelson, MD, chair of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, tells Health.

There are a few larger reasons why you might get a ring stuck on your finger:

• You haven’t taken it off for years. Think: a wedding or engagement ring. “The ring doesn’t change, but the finger size can,” Dr. Nelson says. “You might gain weight, or your body may change. Sometimes, even the bone changes.” And that can make it tricky to remove.
• You ate too much sodium. “If you eat a meal that’s high in salt, you may get more swelling around a ring,” Eric Adkins, MD, emergency medicine physician at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells Health.
• You had a hand injury. This can be an issue even if it’s not your ring finger that you hurt, Dr. Nelson says. “There’s so much soft tissue in your hand. It tends to get very swollen and that can all distribute down to your fingers,” he says.

How can you know if a stuck ring is an emergency?

It’s never great if you’re trying to get a ring off and won’t budge, Dr. Adkins says. “But if swelling starts to happen…there’s definitely a fair amount of urgency to that,” he says.

Some sure signs that you need to seek help ASAP, per Dr. Nelson: You’re in pain, your finger is swelling rapidly, or the color is draining from your finger. “As the finger swells, the ring becomes a restrictive band,” he explains. “That can cut off blood supply to the finger.”

And that, Dr. Adkins says, is really bad. “If you wait too long, you could be at risk of loss of function or losing the finger entirely, depending on how things go with the ring,” he says.

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So what should you do if you can’t get your ring off?

While there’s zero shame in seeking emergency care right away, it’s understandable that you might want to try some home hacks first—and there are plenty.

Rest with your hand raised

“If the hand is a little swollen and you think you can get the swelling down, you could raise your hand up and give it a little time,” Kathryn Boling, MD, a primary care physician at Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Center, tells Health. This allows blood and fluid to drain away from your fingers, possibly reducing swelling in the process. “You may be able to get the ring right off after a while,” Dr. Boling says.

Try to lubricate the ring

The key here is to use a lubricant on the ring itself and not your entire finger, Dr. Adkins says. “You want to be cautious with how much you use,” he says. “Once you get too much on there, it makes it hard to get the ring off your finger because you can have a hard time grasping it.”

As for what, exactly, to use, Dr. Nelson suggests soap, petroleum jelly, or hand cream. “Usually, with enough wiggling back and forth, people can get it off,” he says.

Ice your finger

Ice can be really helpful in this situation, Dr. Adkins says. “It helps constrict the blood vessels that go toward the finger, and you’ll get decreased blood flow—that can help shrink the finger,” he says. “Everything gets a little more shrunken in the cold.”

Try twisting it

This is a little more indepth than it sounds. Dr. Adkins recommends slowly twisting the ring, while trying to pull some of your skin from above the ring to below it. “It can be challenging because you’re trying to do this with one hand,” he says. If you can recruit a friend or partner for help, have at it.

Use some dental floss

This is a little complicated, but Dr. Nelson says it “works pretty well.” To try the hack, slip a piece of fine string or dental floss under your ring. Tightly wrap the string around your finger, up past the knuckle. Then, unwrap the string from the bottom part that’s under the ring. The ring should move up and over the string as you unwrap. “Be careful not to leave it on too long,” Dr. Adkins says. “Otherwise, you can cut off blood supply to the rest of your finger.

How To Reduce Swelling In Fingers To Remove Ring

Raise the level of your affected hand or foot if you can.
Surround the sore spot with ice and wait for it to melt. With any luck, the swelling will subside and the ring can be taken off.
Attempt dripping soapy water or cooking oil on the area if ice doesn’t help.

how to get a ring off a swollen finger without cutting it

Having a ring get caught on your finger can be very annoying. The risk of harm is also present. No need to panic, though; there are a few easy tricks you can try at home if your ring gets stuck.

You could try twisting it off.
Slowly remove your finger from the ring while grasping the ring and gently twisting it back and forth.

One should refrain from excessive pulling. Rough treatment may result in even more puffiness.

Make use of Windex
According to the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, squirting ammonia-based window cleaner like Windex on the ring and finger and then trying to ease the ring off the finger is a good way to do this.

You could try oiling the moving parts.
If you’re having trouble taking your ring off, try lubricating it with something slippery, like

Items: petroleum jelly, vegetable oil, dish soap, butter, hand lotion, cooking spray, hair conditioner, or shampoo
Palm oil, shea butter, mineral oil, coconut oil, and lard

minimize swelling
Use the RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) method to reduce swelling. As a standard part of first aid for sprains and strains, it’s important to get the blood flowing.

To use it to free a stuck ring, simply modify it as follows:

Drop the finger with the stuck ring into a cup of ice water.
Try this: For the next 10 minutes, hold your hand, finger in the cup, above your head.
You shouldn’t leave your finger in the ice water. The ring can be removed by applying pressure to the finger just above the snag with your other hand.
Remove the ring from your finger carefully and slowly. You might want to add some oil or grease.
It’s possible you’ll need to try this several times, each time waiting at least 5-10 minutes in between tries.
You could try wrapping it.
Wrapping yourself in plastic is a recommended practice by the Harvard Medical School.

Wrap the dental floss snugly and evenly around the finger from the ring to below the knuckle.
The end of the dental floss that is closest to the string should be where you begin unwrapping it.
If you unwind a length of dental floss, the ring should slide up your finger and fall off.
Stop trying to force the ring off with dental floss and seek immediate medical attention if that fails.