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Suggest Treatment For Numbness In My Left Ring Finger

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Posted on Tue, 18 Jan 2022
Question: For the last week I have been feeling numbness in my left ring finger. It started when I started wearing my weddind ring, but when I take off the ring it does not go away. I am 41 years old and I am not on any medications.
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Answered by Dr. Michelle Gibson James (19 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
reversible nerve injury

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

Sudden numbness is in keeping with nerve injury. There are different types or levels of severity of nerve injury.

The medical names are neurapraxia, axonotmesis, neurotmesis.
The simplest is the first one- neurapraxia. In the others there is some degree of the nerve being cut.

Neurapraxia can occur if a nerve is compressed and it has an excellent prognosis. In most persons, it heals but this can potentially take weeks or in some instances, months.

Based on the fact that you stated that the numbness started with the use of the ring, it is likely that there was slight compression of the nerves in the finger. This can repair itself but it would not be something that would resolve if the ring was removed for a short time.
It would need to be slightly widened and would need to stay off for a bit.

There are meds that can help the numbness if it is bothersome, your doctor can prescribe one for you. Examples are tegretol, amitriptyline, lyrica etc.

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Michelle Gibson James

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2001

Answered : 16808 Questions

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Suggest Treatment For Numbness In My Left Ring Finger

Brief Answer: reversible nerve injury Detailed Answer: Hi, Sudden numbness is in keeping with nerve injury. There are different types or levels of severity of nerve injury. The medical names are neurapraxia, axonotmesis, neurotmesis. The simplest is the first one- neurapraxia. In the others there is some degree of the nerve being cut. Neurapraxia can occur if a nerve is compressed and it has an excellent prognosis. In most persons, it heals but this can potentially take weeks or in some instances, months. Based on the fact that you stated that the numbness started with the use of the ring, it is likely that there was slight compression of the nerves in the finger. This can repair itself but it would not be something that would resolve if the ring was removed for a short time. It would need to be slightly widened and would need to stay off for a bit. There are meds that can help the numbness if it is bothersome, your doctor can prescribe one for you. Examples are tegretol, amitriptyline, lyrica etc. I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions