What to Do When Your Ring Doesn’t Fit Anymore, Part 1

Have you ever wondered why rings are perfectly round, but our fingers aren’t? To be honest, we don’t have an answer to that; well, ok we do. It’s because perfect circles are easier to manufacture, but it does create issues for all of us who wear rings. Namely, that our fingers change over time in various ways and metal rings, not so much.

Fingers tend to have a somewhat square, round edge shape. Knuckles are always bigger than the bottoms of the finger. When designing a ring, it means that it has to fit over the knuckle and not base of the finger, where it rests.

If your ring is uncomfortably tight or loose – constantly rotating or flipping back and forth, there could be a couple of things going on. First, it might not be the right size. Maybe the sizing was off in the first place, but most often it is because the shape of your finger changed. Our fingers are changing all of the time. There is swelling and contracting through the day as fluid builds up and then gets reabsorbed. Our fingers also change with the seasons, contracting in winter and expanding in the warmer months. So, even if you were sized perfectly in July, by December, your ring will fit differently. There are longer trend issues at play too. Changes in weight, arthritis or other inflammatory issues can impact the way your ring fits. It’s important to talk to an experienced jeweler like Izzy, because he can tell you if the issue is and what might be the best option for correcting it.

And luckily, there are numerous options for correcting the issue, whatever it is. You can have your ring resized, though resizing is not always the best option. Keep in mind that enlarging a ring means heating and stretching the metal. Extreme enlargements (a few sizes up) require cutting the ring and adding additional metal. Sizing down requires cutting the ring, removing some of the metal and then welding it back together. All of these are structural changes, not dissimilar to a person having surgery.

In the next blog, we’ll explore the various options and techniques so that you can make an informed decision as to what is best for your jewelry and your needs.