42
CPSC NEISS Data 2005–2024

Jewelry

Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.

Personal Care & Safety Products · CPSC Code 1616

Stable over 5 years

The verdict

Jewelry carry a danger score of 42/100 (moderate risk), driven by roughly 100,442 ER-treated injuries a year that are roughly flat over the last five years.

42/100
danger score (moderate risk)
100,442
ER visits per year (avg)
1.4%
end in hospital admission
0-4
most-injured age group

Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 1616 - last data year 2024.

PlainSafety danger score

0/100100/10042/100
PlainSafety danger score

Source: CPSC NEISS danger-score model As of 2024

How this 42/100 score is built

The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for jewelry - no opinion, no editorializing:

  • Injury volume100,442 ER visits/yr
  • Severity (hospitalization rate)1.4%
  • Fatality rate0.00%
  • 5-year trend+4%

See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.

What the CPSC Data Shows

Jewelry (CPSC product code 1616, in the Personal Care & Safety Products category) generate an estimated 100,442 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 2.0M ER-treated injuries across the 20-year span from 2005 to 2024. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 42/100 for this category (moderate risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are roughly flat over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2024 (123,824 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2005 (73,853 estimated visits).

The single most common ER diagnosis for jewelry is foreign body to the ear, accounting for approximately 603,514 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by foreign body to the face (339,268 cases). The 0-4 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 551,986 cases over the NEISS window, and females appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 1.4% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer.

Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 48 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how jewelry fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2024-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.

100,442
Injuries / Year
1.4%
Hospitalization Rate
0.00%
Fatality Rate

Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2024)

60K80K100K120K140K 20052008201120142017202020232024 124K
Estimated annual emergency-room visits for Jewelry, CPSC NEISS

Source: CPSC NEISS national injury estimates As of 2024

Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only

Who Gets Injured?

Age Group Male Female Total
0-4 171,798 380,175 551,986
5-14 124,305 338,060 462,430
15-24 97,411 346,715 444,220
25-34 52,536 161,158 213,760
35-44 32,780 85,441 118,272
45-54 24,968 59,325 84,310
55-64 18,271 40,590 58,861
65-74 11,575 26,476 38,079
75+ 7,991 28,869 36,860

Most Common Injuries

Body Part Diagnosis Est. Injuries
Ear Foreign Body 603,514
Face Foreign Body 339,268
Finger Foreign Body 278,787
Internal Ingestion 116,443
Ear Other 94,335
Mouth Foreign Body 63,561
Ear Laceration 54,489
Finger Other 36,063
Internal Aspiration 33,788
Mouth Other 31,755
Upper Trunk Other 29,743
Finger Contusions, Abr. 25,174
Finger Laceration 23,122
Face Other 21,505
Lower Trunk Other 21,410

Severity Breakdown

Treated/examined And Released 96.0% (1.9M)
Left Without Being Seen 2.5% (49,585)
Treated And Admitted/hospitalized 1.0% (19,596)
Treated And Transferred 0.5% (9,252)
Held For Observation 0.1% (1,987)
Unknown, Not Stated 0.0% (32)

ER Visit Narratives

Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.

Age 46 · Male · Finger · Foreign Body · 2024

46 YOM C/O FOREIGN BODY OF FINGER S/P HAS A RING STUCK ON HIS FINGER. DX: FOREIGN BODY OF FINGER

Age 34 · Female · Finger · Foreign Body · 2024

34YOF TO ED WITH FINGER PAIN AND SWELLING DUE TO TIGHT RING, UNABLE TO REMOVE, DX FB TO FINGER

Age 14 · Female · Ear · Foreign Body · 2024

14YOF, EARRING PUSHED BACK INTO EAR DX: FOREIGN BODY RIGHT EARLOBE

Age 8 · Female · Ear · Foreign Body · 2024

8YOF, BEAD IN LEFT EAR DX: NO DIAGNOSIS, LEFT, FROM LOBBY

Age 36 · Female · Ear · Other · 2024

36YOF BILATERAL EAR PAIN, REDNESS AND SWELLING AND DRAINAGE, SHE REPORTS USING A EAR PIERCING KIT OFF *** AT HOME DX: PERICHONDRITIS OF BOTH EARS

Age 9 · Female · Ear · Foreign Body · 2024

9YOF STATES SHE PUT IN BEAD IN HER EAR BECAUSE SHE DIDNT WANT TO GO TO BED, DX FB TO EAR

Age 18 · Male · Ear · Other · 2024

18YOM C/O BILATERAL EAR PAIN. RECENTLY GO BOTH EARS PIERCED 1 MONTH AGO AND HAS EARINGS IN. DEVELOPED BUMPS BEHIND BOTH EAR LOBES. DX: SKIN OF BOTH EARLOBES WITH INFECTION

Age 72 · Male · Finger · Foreign Body · 2024

72YOM WITH A RING STUCK ON FINGER DX: CONTUSION TO FINGER

Age 2 · Female · Face · Foreign Body · 2024

2YOF WITH A BEAD IN NOSE DX: FO IN NOSE

Age 61 · Male · Finger · Foreign Body · 2024

61YOM WITH RING STUCK ON FINGER AND HAS HAND PAIN PT LEFT ED DX; HAND PAIN

Age 39 · Male · Face · Laceration · 2024

39YOM COMING FROM PD CUSTODY WITH ERRATIC BEHAVIOR AND WAS BANGING HEAD ON CELL AND PD REPORTED PT SWALLOWED A CHAIN. PT HAS LAC TO FOREHEAD DX: ENCOUNTER FOR MEDICAL SCREENING EXAM

Age 39 · Female · Ear · Derma/conjunct · 2024

39YOF TO ER FOR PAIN TO LEFT EAR AFTER GETTING EARS PIERCED, PT PUT SOME LIDOCAINE THAT HAD MULT INGREDIANTS IN IT, WITH IN AN HR PT DEVELPED HIVES & SCRATCHY THROAT, NO OTHER SX'S AT THIS TIME DX ANAPHYLAXIS, PERICHONDRITIS

Consumer Incident Reports

Reports filed by consumers on SaferProducts.gov.

9/5/2024 · Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received · CLAIRE'S STORES, INC. · California

I am writing to report a serious injury caused by a product sold at Clair's store as part of their piercing offerings. My 10 year old daughter ended up in the Emergency Room on 08/04/24 after one of the earrings that were placed at a Clair's stores ended up stuck inside her earlobe. Here is the timeline of events that led to this incident. My daughter [REDACTED] had her ears pierced on July 2nd at a Clair's Store at The Block in Orange in California. The piercing procedure itself went well and did not cause any problems. However, after wearing the earrings for a month and following Clair's after care procedure, we attempted to take the earrings off. [REDACTED] had been wearing the earrings for over one month at that point. August 4, we attempted to remove the stud earrings. The first one came out ok. The second one on her left ear (facing her) was extremely tight and when we tried pull the two earring pieces apart, the rime stone part) front of earring) logged into her earlobe. We had to take her to the Emergency Room immediately as she was in a lot of pain due to the earring/rime stone (front piece of earring) being stuck in her earlobe. We first took her to urgent care but doctor could not remove without just numbing gel on her ear. The pain was too unbearable for my daughter when doctor tried to push earing out. Urgent Care then sent us to ER. At the ER, the ER doctor had to give her three shots to numb her ear, and then was finally able to remove the earring. In looking at the earrings, I noticed that the quality of this earrings is terrible and should not be offered to kids that just have had their ears pierced. The earring causing the issue was way too tight where the two parts (back piece and the "pin part" of the earring come together), the "earring back piece" barely moves on the "needle piece". The size of the rime stone is very small. The combination of these two issues can easily cause the earring to get lodged in an earlobe, espe

9/14/2017 · Incident, No Injury · Mungi Brands · United States

I am a teacher a student came up to me with something stuck on her lip and said help I can't get this off of my lip. Her lip was turning purple. I could barely get the thing off. It turns out she had found a Mungi band. It is made of rubber and designed like a ring or bracelet te with magnets on the ends that hook the band closed. She had bit into it and the magnets came out. They are tiny like the diameter of a pencil eraser and Very Powerful strong magnets. One magnet got stuck inside her lip and the other got stuck outside her lip. I think if she had swallowed them she could have died or needed surgery.

8/29/2018 · Incident, No Injury · Gosteel · Florida

My 8 year old stuck a necklace pendent into a wall socket. Arc fault interrupt worked, thank god. The necklace is design poorly, it looks like an actual electric plug. The necklace was marketed by gosteel out of Miami. Thank you to the arc fault interrupt standards, they saved her life. Sincerely, [REDACTED]

8/21/2023 · Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received · Jacmel Jewelry Inc · Colorado

My 4 year old has an injured and deformed ear lobe from a Disney earring. We put these earrings in on her birthday [REDACTED]

8/14/2013 · Injury, Seen by Medical Professional · Crimzon Rose International · Arizona

My wife and I purchased a set of "Clip-on earrings" from a local Wal-Mart Superstore in Mesa, Arizona this past July for our three-year-old daughter [REDACTED]. On Friday, 9 AUgust 2013 my wife [REDACTED] discivered that the metal clip of the earrings had punctured both of [REDACTED] ear lobes and completely passed through the entire cartilage structure of the ear lobe. [REDACTED] contraced infections in both of her ears, and now has moderate-sized holes where the earrings punctured the cartilage of the ear lobes. These holes, according to [REDACTED] physician, will take an extraordinarily long time to heal, if they do heal, because the cartilage of the ear does not regenerate as tissue does.

7/6/2016 · Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received · KOHL'S DEPARTMENT STORE, INC. · Unspecified

I purchased a ring for my daughter at Kohl's at the end of April 2016. The rings are packaged in such a manner that a type of sharp implement must be used to open the packaging. The ring was so tightly attached to the packaging my daughter had to use a pair of scissors to try to access the ring. While holding the ring with one hand and trying to use the point of the scissor to slide between the ring and the packaging in an attempt to cut the ring free, my daughters thumb was cut. I took my daughter to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Urgent Care for treatment. The doctor had to utilize surgical glue to close the wound. kohl's stated that the packaging is "standard" and is packaging so tight to defer theft.

7/28/2017 · Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received · NDS Solutions Inc · California

On 07/11/2017, My family and I attended a summer school program. At the event SMUD company had a stand , providing the public with flyers and the kids light-up wrist bands and fans. The representatives from the stand were directly handing these items to kids. My 9 year old daughter and 3 year old son got one of each including my friends kids. On 07/12/2017, My 3 year old son [REDACTED] got ahold of the wrist band that was given to him and with easy access he removed the button battery and swallowed it. The WRIST BAND does not have any caution instructions nor age limit. Where the battery is located its an open access to everyone. No zipper nor its glued in. Around 7:40pm, I question my son due to him crying and saying he was feeling alot of pain. I rushed him to the hospital and immediately was seen due to being a battery and having acids. My son after 3-4 hours throw-up the battery. Now he is having many health problems do to it. Eating habits are decreased. My son complains of pain in the throat area and stomach. On 07/26/2017, had an upper GI and with the next 2 weeks will be having an endoscopy. Currently, has a lot of inflammation and is on Med's. I filed a claim report with the company of SMUD Directly on 07/17/2017, and on 07/18/2017 [REDACTED] representative came to take pictures and do a report on item. This Light-up Wrist band item is still being hand out to kids at our state fair and in other events. This item is dangerous.

7/26/2015 · Injury, First Aid Received by Non-Medical Professional · Jacmel Jewelry Inc · Florida

I purchased a pair of ladybug earrings with locking backs for my 2 yr old grand daughter. I put them in this morning and by 2 pm she was bawling that they hurt real bad. After inspecting them, my fingers were covered in blood, we managed to get them out of her ears and there was a perfect ladybug cut into both of her ear lobes. The earrings had no backing on the ladybug, therefore, to paint a picture, they looked like a tiny cookie cutter. I immediately went back to Walmart to complain and ask that they be removed from shelves so that no other child is injure. All they would do was file a report and give us our money back, and give us the name of their distributer of said earrings.

Showing 8 of 48 reports.

Product Recalls

Search for active and past recalls related to jewelry on the CPSC website.

Frequently Asked Questions

How dangerous are jewelry?

Based on 20 years of CPSC data, jewelry have a danger score of 42/100 (moderate risk). An estimated 100,442 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.

What are the most common injuries from jewelry?

The most common injury is foreign body to the ear, accounting for approximately 603,514 injuries over 20 years.

Are injuries from jewelry increasing or decreasing?

Stable over 5 years.

Who is most at risk for jewelry injuries?

The 0-4 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 551,986 cases recorded over 20 years. Females are more frequently injured in this age group.

What happens when someone is injured by jewelry?

Of all ER visits involving jewelry, approximately 1.4% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (98.6%) are treated and released from the emergency department.

How can I report a safety problem with jewelry?

You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.

Safety Guides

What this means for you

Treat the 42/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.

  • See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
  • Injuries cluster in the 0-4 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
  • Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls

NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.

Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.