Types of Surgical Scissors

Surgical scissors are always required during any surgery and designed to perform tasks such as cutting and dissecting tissues, sutures and bandages. Surgical scissors are constructed from such materials as stainless steels or titanium so that they can withstand multiple sterilization procedures before showing signs of corrosion.

Operating Scissors

• Operating scissors are for use in basic first aid kits and general surgical procedures to cut sutures, gauze and other similar materials. Operating scissors can have a straight or curved set of blades with tip combinations such as blunt/blunt, blunt/sharp or sharp/sharp. Such combinations work to either prevent skin injury with blunt tip or to be capable of sliding underneath tight sutures as with a sharp tip.

Iris Scissors

• Iris scissors have either curved or angled blades with a sharp/sharp set of tips and are used to remove necrotic (dead) tissue. Iris scissors are designed to perform eye surgery (hence the name Iris); however, because of their petite structure and curved shape they are a good scissor for beginners to use with dissection.

Cosmetic Surgery Scissors

• Cosmetic surgery scissors are microsurgical scissors that are very fine (thin) compared to other types of surgical scissors and can have either curved or straight blades. These scissors are used by cosmetic surgeons because they are capable of dissecting, cutting, clamping and manipulating tissue during restorative surgery. However, because of their delicate structure these scissors cannot tolerate being used for any other types of procedures.

Tenotomy Scissors

• Tenotomy scissors are used to perform surgery on eyelids, lips and mucous membranes. Their blades can be curved or straight and have either blunt/blunt or sharp/sharp tip combinations. Tenotomy scissors with a blunt/blunt set of tips are used for blunt dissecting such as cutting mucous membranes; scissors with a sharp/sharp tips are used for more delicate dissecting procedures.