Wear loose, comfortable, metal-free clothing to an MRI, and expect to change into a gown or scrubs if your outfit has zippers, buttons, hooks, underwire, or metallic fibers.

Quick Scoop

  • Best choices: cotton T-shirt, sweatpants, shorts, or a simple dress without metal.
  • Avoid: jeans with metal hardware, bras with underwire, leggings or athletic wear that may contain metallic threads, jewelry, belts, watches, hairpins, and shoes with metal parts.
  • Many centers provide a gown or scrubs if your clothes are not MRI-safe.

What Works

Wear something plain and easy to take off if needed. A front-opening shirt or loose cotton clothing is usually a safe bet, and socks can help if the room is cold.

What To Skip

Do not wear items with metal zippers, snaps, hooks, or underwire, and be cautious with “cooling,” “anti-odor,” or “silver technology” activewear because those fabrics may contain metal threads.

Also remove jewelry, piercings, watches, glasses, hair accessories, and anything else metallic before the scan.

Easy Rule

If you are not sure whether a piece of clothing is safe, assume it is not and bring a backup outfit or plan to change at the imaging center.

A simple, practical example is: cotton T-shirt, sweatpants, plain underwear, and socks, with no metal anywhere.