Introduction to Scissors
Surgical scissors are instruments that can be used for both cutting and dissection. The three main applications for scissors include:
- Sharply cutting soft tissues
- Bluntly spreading soft tissues during dissection
- Cutting suture or bandage materials
Scissors offer several advantages over scalpel blades, such as the ability to precisely cut loose soft tissues, especially deeper tissues that cannot be held under tension. Another advantage is that scissors allow for superior depth control during dissection. However, scissors have one significant limitation; they require an opening in the tissue to insert the lower blade. Scalpels, on the other hand, can be used to incise through an intact tissue surface. Despite this limitation, scissors are important surgical instruments and are frequently used during surgery.
In this module we will examine the common types of scissors used in veterinary surgery; how to properly grip, use, and pass scissors; the four cutting and dissection techniques for scissors; and the surgical applications for scissors.