This story is from September 1, 2017

26-year-old decides to wear ring after injury, loses finger

26-year-old decides to wear ring after injury, loses finger
Representative image
CHENNAI: Rings are meant to bind. But the decision to keep his band cost a 26-year-old newly engaged man his finger.
The person, whose name has been withheld to protect patient privacy , had initially consulted a local doctor for a door-crush injury at the tip of his ring finger, which had to be sutured under local anaesthesia. He refused to remove his engagement ring despite being advised to do so.
Six days later, when he went back to the clinic to get the wound dressed, the doctor noticed his finger had turned black.
The swelling caused by the injury had tightened the ring, obstructing blood flow.
“By the time he came to us, it was already too late. We had no choice; the finger had to be removed,“ said plastic surgeon Dr J Sathish Kumar from Sri Ramahandra Medical Center. A medical team used a ring-cutter to crack open the cause of the gangrene -the man's engagement ring. “The patient was not a smoker or diabetic. There was no history suggestive of any other hand problems. It didn't take much for us to realise it was the ring that stopped blood circulation, resulting in the death of the tissue,“ said Dr Kumar.
The case was recently pub lished in the Indian Journal of Surgery to stress the importance of removal of ornaments close to a site of injury or before a surgery .
It isn't just injuries that trap rings, doctors say infections, skin disorders, allergic reactions, insect bites and pregnancy can also result in swelling. Dr Rema Devi, head of the department of plastic surgery at Government Stanley Medical College hospital, said she sees at least three to four cases of “stuck rings“ a week. In some cases, the swelling is sudden like an allergic reaction. “But many times it happens gradually , like if he or she suffers from a kidney problem or other health conditions that can result in fluid accumulation,“ said Dr Rema.“We can save at least 60% of the people whose fingers have turned blue. Once it turns black, it's beyond repair,“ she added.
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