Can I Wear Jewelry During a CT Scan?

You will almost always be asked to remove jewelry that sits in or near the body region being scanned, and for good reason. Metal objects cause bright streaks and dark shadows on CT images that can obscure the very anatomy your doctor ordered the scan to evaluate. Jewelry far from the scan area is generally harmless to image quality, but most imaging facilities adopt a “remove everything you can” policy to avoid any chance of a compromised scan.

Why Metal Creates Problems on CT Images

A CT scanner sends X-ray beams through your body from hundreds of angles while you lie on the table. Software then reconstructs those measurements into cross-sectional images of your internal anatomy. The process works beautifully with soft tissue, bone, and even air, because the scanner’s algorithms are built to handle the range of densities found in the human body. Metal, however, absorbs and deflects X-rays far more intensely than anything your body contains. The result is a set of image distortions collectively called metal artifacts.

The most visible artifact is streaking: bright white lines and dark bands that radiate outward from the metal object in the reconstructed image, sometimes spanning the entire slice. These streaks don’t just look messy. They can completely mask nearby structures, making it impossible for a radiologist to distinguish a tumor from a shadow or evaluate the walls of a blood vessel sitting behind a curtain of artifact noise.¹ The severity depends on the size, shape, and composition of the metal, but even a small earring can throw enough artifact to ruin a few image slices if it lands inside the scan field.

Location Is the Deciding Factor

The practical question isn’t really “can I wear jewelry during a CT scan?” but rather “is my jewelry inside the scan field?” A CT scan of your abdomen doesn’t care about your earrings. A CT scan of your head very much does. The scan field is the cylindrical region the X-ray beam actually passes through, and anything metallic sitting within that cylinder will generate artifacts on the resulting images.

Head and neck CTs are the most jewelry-sensitive exams. Earrings, nose rings, tongue piercings, lip rings, necklaces, and even heavy hairpins all fall directly in or near the scan field. Research on CT head imaging has found that metal artifacts are among the biggest contributors to degraded image quality in the head and neck, sometimes obscuring tumors or other critical findings and complicating both diagnosis and treatment planning.² A necklace draped across the back of your neck during a brain CT can produce streaks that wash out views of the posterior fossa, the region housing the brainstem and cerebellum.

For a chest CT, necklaces and chest piercings are the main culprits. Abdominal and pelvic CTs are affected by belly-button piercings, waistband snaps, and belt buckles. Extremity CTs can be disrupted by rings, bracelets, or ankle jewelry. The rule of thumb is simple: if the jewelry is at roughly the same height on your body as the area being scanned, take it off.

Some Metals Are Worse Than Others

Not every piece of jewelry generates the same amount of artifact. The density of the metal and its atomic number both matter. Heavier, denser metals like gold, platinum, and stainless steel block more X-rays and scatter more photons, producing harsher streaking. Titanium, by contrast, is lighter and has a lower atomic number, which means it causes fewer and less severe artifacts. Phantom studies comparing different metal types have found that titanium consistently produces lower artifact levels than stainless steel under the same scanning conditions.³ One study measuring artifact intensity across metal types and energy levels found that titanium averaged around 71 Hounsfield units of artifact compared to 116 for steel under the same conditions.⁴

For everyday jewelry, this distinction is mostly academic since you can just take it off. But it becomes relevant for piercings that are difficult or impossible to remove quickly. A titanium barbell in a healed piercing will cause less image disruption than a stainless-steel ring in the same location. If you have piercings you know you won’t be able to remove, mentioning the metal type to the technologist can help them decide whether to proceed or adjust the scan protocol.

What Happens When You Cannot Remove the Metal

Jewelry you can unclasp or unscrew is the easy case. The harder scenario involves metal that’s permanently or semi-permanently in your body: dental fillings, crowns, bridges, orthopedic screws, joint replacements, or piercings that have been in place so long the tissue has tightened around them. In these situations, the scan still has to happen, and radiologists have several tools to work around the problem.

The most widely available tool is metal artifact reduction software, often referred to by abbreviations like MAR or O-MAR depending on the scanner manufacturer. These algorithms identify the metal in the raw scan data and mathematically correct for the distortions it causes. Studies comparing images with and without MAR have found that the software significantly reduces the dark-band artifacts that obscure tissue near metal objects.⁵ In dental imaging, where metal fillings and crowns are almost universal in older adults, one study found that applying a specialized MAR algorithm to CT data from the oral cavity significantly lowered artifact indices compared to standard reconstruction.⁶

Newer scanners equipped with dual-energy CT can take the correction further. By acquiring images at two different X-ray energy levels simultaneously, dual-energy systems can generate “virtual monoenergetic” images at energies that minimize the contrast between metal and tissue, reducing artifact. Research on dental metalwork showed that dual-energy CT combined with artifact reduction software markedly improved image quality in the areas closest to the metal, including the cheek and tongue regions.⁷ For orthopedic hardware, the optimal approach depends on the metal: titanium implants responded best to high-energy monoenergetic reconstruction alone, while cobalt and stainless-steel implants needed dedicated MAR software to achieve acceptable image quality.³

These technologies are impressive, but they don’t make the problem disappear. Even with artifact reduction engaged, some residual distortion usually remains, and the software can occasionally introduce new artifacts of its own. Removing a piece of jewelry before the scan will always produce a cleaner image than relying on post-processing to fix it after the fact. The artifact reduction tools exist mainly for metal you genuinely cannot take out.

Does Jewelry Affect Your Radiation Dose?

A less obvious concern is whether having metal in the scan field changes the radiation dose to your skin or nearby tissues. When X-rays hit a dense metal surface, some of the energy scatters backward, a phenomenon called backscatter. Research on what happens at the boundary between tissue and high-atomic-number materials has found that there is a localized dose increase on the tissue side of the interface, but it is extremely small in physical extent, disappearing within a fraction of a millimeter from the metal surface.⁸ Beyond that thin sliver, the dose actually drops slightly compared to what it would be without the metal present.

In practical terms, this means a ring or earring in the CT scan field isn’t giving you a meaningfully higher radiation dose. The effect is real physics, but the zone of increased exposure is so thin that it’s clinically irrelevant for a diagnostic scan. The reason to remove jewelry is image quality, not radiation safety.

Common Misconceptions About CT and Jewelry

Many people confuse CT scan rules with MRI rules, and the two are very different situations. MRI uses powerful magnetic fields, and ferromagnetic metal in the scan room can become a dangerous projectile or cause serious burns. CT uses X-rays, so there’s no magnetic danger. You won’t have a necklace ripped off your neck or feel a piercing heat up during a CT scan. The risk is purely about image quality. That said, the confusion is understandable, and it’s part of why most radiology departments simply ask you to remove all jewelry and metal for any scan, regardless of modality, rather than explaining the different reasons for each.

Another common belief is that body piercings made of “surgical-grade” stainless steel are somehow CT-safe because they’re designed for the body. Surgical-grade stainless steel is biocompatible, meaning your tissue won’t react to it, but it still absorbs X-rays aggressively. In fact, stainless steel is among the more artifact-prone metals, producing worse streaking than titanium under the same conditions. The “surgical” label refers to tissue compatibility, not imaging compatibility.

People also sometimes worry that the CT machine could damage their jewelry. It won’t. X-rays pass through metal without altering it in any way. Your ring won’t be irradiated, magnetized, or structurally weakened by the scan. The only reason to remove it is to keep it from interfering with the pictures.

What to Expect When You Arrive for the Scan

At most imaging centers, a technologist will ask you to change into a hospital gown and remove jewelry, watches, glasses, hairpins, hearing aids, and any other metal accessories before the scan. Some facilities provide a small locker or bag for your belongings. If you know in advance that you’re having a CT, leaving valuables at home is the simplest approach. You avoid the anxiety of handing over an heirloom wedding ring or expensive watch to a stranger, and you save a few minutes of prep time.

If you have piercings that are difficult to remove, tell the technologist. They may be able to work around it depending on where the piercing is relative to the scan area. For instance, if you’re having a CT of your lumbar spine and your only piercing is an eyebrow ring, the technologist will likely proceed without asking you to touch it. If the piercing is in the scan field, they may still be able to adjust the scan protocol or plan to use artifact reduction software, especially if removing the piercing would cause tissue damage or require tools you don’t have.

Dental work is the metal most commonly left in place during a CT scan, simply because you can’t remove fillings and crowns for an appointment. If you’re having a head or neck CT and you have extensive dental metalwork, the radiologist reading your scan will already be experienced at interpreting images through some degree of dental artifact. They know what artifact looks like and won’t confuse a streak from a filling with a fracture or a tumor. For cases where the dental artifact is especially severe and the diagnostic question is in the nearby area, the radiologist may request a follow-up with dual-energy CT or recommend adjusting the reconstruction settings.

Piercings in Sensitive or Hard-to-Reach Locations

Genital piercings, nipple piercings, and dermal anchor implants deserve a quick mention because they present unique practical challenges. These piercings are often difficult to remove without tools or professional help, and patients understandably feel awkward discussing them with a technologist. If you have piercings in these areas and your scan covers the chest, abdomen, or pelvis, bring it up early. The technologist isn’t going to judge you; they see this regularly. Knowing about the metal in advance lets them plan around it rather than discovering it on the images after you’ve already left.

Dermal anchors, sometimes called microdermals, sit beneath the skin with only a decorative top visible. They can’t be popped out like a stud earring. If one of these is in the scan field, it stays, and the technologist will note its location so the radiologist knows to expect artifact in that area. The amount of metal in a typical dermal anchor is small enough that the artifact is usually limited to a few image slices, but it can still obscure a small lesion if one happens to sit right behind it.

For patients with extensive body jewelry who need frequent imaging, such as those undergoing cancer surveillance, switching to non-metallic retainer jewelry made of materials like PTFE (a type of flexible plastic) can be a practical long-term solution. These keep the piercing open without causing any artifact on CT or any other imaging modality.

How Technologists and Radiologists Handle Residual Metal

Even with the best patient preparation, some scans will include metal that couldn’t be removed. When that happens, technologists have a few levers to pull. They can increase the tube voltage, which produces higher-energy X-rays that penetrate metal more effectively and reduce streak severity. They can also narrow the slice thickness or adjust the reconstruction kernel to minimize how artifacts spread across the image. These adjustments involve trade-offs with dose and image noise, so they’re made on a case-by-case basis rather than applied to every scan.

On the reading side, radiologists are trained to recognize artifact patterns and mentally subtract them from the diagnostic picture. A classic star-burst streak pattern emanating from a known dental filling or surgical screw is easily distinguished from pathology by an experienced reader. The situation becomes trickier when the artifact overlaps with a region of clinical suspicion, such as a metallic dental crown casting streaks right across a lymph node the oncologist wants evaluated. In those cases, the radiologist may note the limitation in their report and suggest an alternative imaging approach, or the scan may be repeated with artifact reduction software enabled if the scanner supports it.²

Iterative reconstruction methods and high-energy virtual monoenergetic imaging continue to improve with each scanner generation. One comparative study found that combining metal artifact reduction algorithms with virtual monoenergetic imaging at 140 keV was the most effective approach for eliminating streak artifacts, while MAR alone was the best single tool for reducing the dark bands that can mimic pathology.⁵ When artifact reduction software was combined with iterative reconstruction in a more recent photon-counting detector study, artifacts from both titanium and steel dropped dramatically, with titanium artifact intensity falling from about 71 to 27 Hounsfield units and steel falling from about 116 to 32.⁴ These numbers represent a roughly 60 to 70 percent reduction in artifact severity, which often makes the difference between a diagnostic and non-diagnostic scan.

1
PubMed Central. Common computed tomography artifact: source and avoidance
2
PubMed Central. Investigation of radiology professionals’ awareness of CT head artifacts
3
PubMed Central. Dual-Energy Computed Tomography Applications to Reduce Metal Artifacts in Hip Prostheses: A Phantom Study
4
Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery. The potential of high-Z contrast media for vessel visualization near metal implants: a photon-counting detector CT phantom study with virtual monoenergetic images and iterative metal artifact reduction
5
PubMed Central. Metal artifacts reduction in computed tomography: A phantom study to compare the effectiveness of metal artifact reduction algorithm, model-based iterative reconstruction, and virtual monochromatic imaging
6
PubMed Central. Metal Artifact Reduction in Oral Cavity MDCT Using Dental Overlays and the O-MAR Algorithm
7
PubMed. Dual-energy CT with virtual monochromatic images and metal artifact reduction software for reducing metallic dental artifacts
8
Medical Physics. Backscatter dose perturbation in kilovoltage photon beams at high atomic number interfaces