surgical instruments

Question 1

scalpel handles

Answer 1

• beard-parker handles: most common

- beaver handles: round or hexagonal, holds smaller and sharper blades, useful for small spaces or delicate tissue

Question 2

scissors

Answer 2

• iris: sharp dissection
• gradle: periorbital dissection
• westcott scissors: spring loaded, eyelid dissection
• Mayo: coarse dissection, 1:1 handle blade ratio
• Metzenbaum: blunt dissection in areas that require long reach
• supercut: have razor blade and black handles

Question 3

needle driver

Answer 3

short vs. long

depends on needle size (short needle goes with short, long goes with long)

Question 4

forceps

Answer 4

• adson: most common
• bishop-harmon: small, useful for eyelids, light weight, have 3 holes
• jeweler: pointy ends, useful for suture removal
• serrated: easier to grab needle; increased risk of tissue crush injury

Question 5

surgical needle anatomy

Answer 5

tip then body then shank

Question 6

needle tips

Answer 6

• round (tapered)
• cutting which includes conventional (inside sharp) vs. reverse cutting (outside sharp). as you can imagine, conventional is the most likely to tear through wound edge

***reverse cutting is the most commonly used. conventional is most likely to tear through tissue and tapered is used most often for suture of deep soft tissue