What is Ring Avulsion and How To Avoid It

What is Ring Avulsion

A ring avulsion injury is when a traditional metal wedding ring gets caught or snagged on something and is forcefully pulled or yanked off your finger. Of course, the ring doesn’t just slide off easily. The ring grips the finger and can have devastating consequences known as ‘degloving’. Degloving can strip off and damage tissue, including muscles, tendons and bones. The latter can result in instant amputation.

If you need to see a visual representation of what we are describing, click here. But be warned - these images are not pretty and show blood and other images that may make you queasy. 

While we are focusing on degloving of a finger, it can happen to any appendage, such as your leg or entire arm. For example, one danger when kitesurfing is when helpful bystanders on the beach try and help recover a limp kite that suddenly catches a gust of wind. The kite takes flight and the lines suddenly and rapidly go taught, irrespective of the arm or leg wrapped around the lines at the time.

What are the Most Common Causes of Ring Avulsion

If you look at the ingredients that go into a ring avulsion injury - an edge to get snagged on + forcefully yanked - machinery are the most common cause of ring avulsion injury. With this in mind, the following professions are at greater risk of degloving:

• Mechanic
• Factory worker
• Military personnel
• Police
• Fire-fighter
• Builder or construction worker
• Miner 
• Personal Trainers

Even if you work in an office it doesn’t mean that you aren’t at risk. US talk show host, Jimmy Fallon spent 10 days in ICU following urgent surgery when he slipped whilst walking through his kitchen. Yep, he caught his ring on the edge of his benchtop and suffered from ring avulsion. Check out the following video where an MD discusses the injury suffered by the popular TV personality. 

How to Avoid Ring Avulsion/Degloving

If you work with your hands, you should really reconsider your need to wear your traditional metal wedding ring when at work. I can already hear the conversation between husband and wife, “why aren’t you wearing your wedding ring?” - “I’m concerned about injuring myself at work” - “I don’t like you not wearing your wedding ring, what will our friends say if they see you without your ring on?”

If you aren’t willing to spend 60% of your life without your wedding ring on, you could try a silicone wedding ring as an alternative to a traditional metal ring. However, not all silicone wedding rings are created equal. Some are too rigid and likely to cause damage to your finger before the silicone ring snaps. The silicone used by Momentum (MMTM) Rings is designed to find that balance between strength and flexibility. MMTM Rings are designed to keep your finger safe whilst still paying homage to the commitment you made to that special someone.

Conclusion

Traditional metal rings are a danger of getting snagged on an edge and causing damage to your finger known as ring avulsion or degloving. You can either not wear a wedding ring or try an alternative such as a Momentum Rings silicone wedding ring/band.