London - Titanium is an increasingly popular choice when it comes to choosing a wedding ring.
Tough, durable and light, the precious metal is seen adorning the fingers of a growing number of brides and grooms.
But the incredibly hard metal is proving a problem for hospitals – as doctors struggle to cut rings from patients’ fingers in emergencies. Whereas gold or silver can be easily cut away if a finger is swollen or a surgeon needs access to the whole hand, titanium is too hard for conventional equipment.
Surgeons at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital warn of the problem in the Emergency Medicine Journal. Andrej Salibi and Andrew Morritt, of the hospital’s plastic surgery department, write: “Titanium rings require specialist cutting equipment such as dental saws, drills or diamond-tipped saws.”
If not dealt with promptly, constriction from a ring can cut off the blood supply and the tissue can die. Patients may even lose a finger.
The Sheffield team overcame the issue in a recent case using a large pair of bolt cutters.
Daily Mail