Swollen fingers with rings on them are a common presence in emergency rooms, and bolt cutters are a typical solution. Of course nobody wants to have their wedding ring destroyed that way, but clinicians often don’t have any options other than cutting off the ring. Moreover, the increased popularity of ultra-strong titanium rings often makes it difficult to even cut them off.
Now, a new device, called RingRescue, is making it possible to easily deal with many cases of swollen fingers with trapped rings. It helps to preserve rings while giving clinicians a much more gentle way to deal with this issue than using surgical bolt cutters.
The device resembles a tiny blood pressure cuff. The cuff part is placed over the affected finger and a squeezable pump is used to inflate it. Once inflated, over a few minutes the pressure of the cuff works to reduce the size of the swelling. The cuff is then deflated and removed, allowing the ring to slide off much easier.
The RingRescue doesn’t address the underlying cause of the swelling, but it certainly makes ring removal less stressful and easier on everyone involved.
Here’s a demonstration of how the RingRescue works in practice:
Product page: RingRescue
(hat tip: CBC)