Is it safe for someone with an implanted medical device to wear a card wallet or small bag around their neck or across their chest?
When choosing accessories worn around the neck or across the upper body, there may be concern about whether built-in closure magnets could affect electronically implanted devices in the body.
Card cases, wallets, and small bags containing magnets can affect implanted medical devices such as pacemakers, so they should not be placed close to them[1].
Among meanswhile accessories, there are items with straps designed to be worn around the neck or slung across the chest. Card cases, wallets, and micro bags with straps are representative examples[2]. They are made with magnets inside the flap or opening for easy opening and closing, and the magnetic field generated by these magnets may cause interference with medical devices such as implanted pacemakers[3].
Caution is required. Generally, everyday accessories with built-in magnets must be used at a certain distance from implanted electronic medical devices to be safe. In particular, because neck-strap wallets or bags worn close to the upper body easily come into contact with the area near the heart, it is recommended that people who use implanted medical devices carry them inside another bag or hold them in hand so they do not directly touch the body.
The minimum safe distance that must be maintained between accessories with built-in magnets and medical devices has not yet been confirmed.