I too am pleased that you managed to keep your finger! For quite a number of years I have been on the care provider end of these problems as a reconstructive hand & microsurgeon. These so-called ring avulsion injuries are notoriously difficult to treat, since the forces rip out all the capillaries from their connections nourshing the skin of the finger. Microsurgery simply cannot save the vast majority of these injuries in which the "skin envelope" is completely de-gloved from the finger. It is far easier to reconstruct a finger which has been amputated guillotine style with a sharp tool or instrument.
As other posters have noted, the best way to avoid these injuries is to not wear rings while working. Another consideration might be to have a jeweler step-cut your ring on the palm side. A step-cut completely severs the continuity of the ring, but is hardly noticeable. It becomes a safety valve, in that if there is a violent force, the ring will simply spread open and come off, without shearing off the skin of the finger.
I'm also glad to see other forum members noting the dangers of long hair, and loose clothing, too. Avulsions of the entire scalp (from the eyebrows to nape of neck) are often the end result of hair getting caught in a PTO or other exposed moving machinery. For the same reasons of capillary detruction, scalps which have been microsurgically replanted have a poor survival rate. This then leads to multiple reconstructive surgeries in attempts to cover bare exposed skull bones with tissues from other body regions. The end results are never very cosmetically good, since our Creator only gave us one scalp, and non-scalp tissues simply cannot re-make a normal scalp. Prevention is the key.
Again, it is reassuring to see that TBN'ers are aware of the real dangers posed by operating machinery.
