Ophthalmology Instruments

There are various instruments used in the surgery involving the eye and these instruments are called opthalmology instruments.They are meant to handle the finest layers.Numerous different types of scissors and forceps are used for gripping, cutting and removing different areas.Apart from these there are eye protection shields and measuring instruments like tonometers and calipers used measuring different things.Maintaining sterility or cleanliness of the instruments is the issue.

Some of opthalmology instruments are as follows :-

Surgical Clippers :- Calipers are used in almost all surgeries involving implants and grafts.These are all very high precision surgeries where exact sizing of the grafts and implants is required. In ophthalmic procedures the calipers are required to measure the size of the cornea.The dental calipers are also called Dental Anthropology calipers.They are used to measure the size of the jaw for complete denture implant and teeth for single tooth implants.Calipers are also used to measure the size of the grafts.

Suture Forceps :- Suture Forceps is also called a needle holder forceps.The typical needle holder has two short, rather blunt, serrated beaks with a groove in each beak.The grooves provide space for the placement and retention of the needle.At the end of the handles, there is a locking mechanism that lets the secure the suture needle in the correct position so as the needle appears to be an extension of the needle holder.

Eye Shields :- Eye shields are rubber and stainless steel shields.Rubber shields to protect eyes during laser procedures.They are commonly known as laser ocular protective shield.The inside of the shield is given a mirror finish and outer is given a dull finish. It has a handle for easy manuver.

Eye Specula :- The ophthalmic specula are quite commonly used in the eye surgery to control the folds in the lid and the lid movement for easy.The speculum usually have a non reflective ends that are flared.The angled shanks allow easy opening and closing.The lower blade is shorter for easy insertion.Most of the ophthalmic surgical procedures can be accomplished by this kind of speculum.Others may use a wire speculum with a heady coiled fulcrum tht help retract the lids.

Surgical Retractors :- There are hand held retractors and self retaining ones.The hand held retractors require an assistant to hold them but the self retaining ones dont once they are adjusted in position.Each type of medical retractors have specific properties as per the usage. Senn retractor is simple, the deaver is more exotic, hohmann is orthopedic retractor, army-navy is a bladed retractor, rake retractor are forked.

Lachrymal Probes :- Lacrimal probes is used to detect blockage in the lacrimal duct.The instrument is so made that it easily enter the duct opening.They are marked so that the exact depth of the blockage can be measured.They can be inserted with ease by gently rotating the upper end.

Muscle Forceps :- Muscle forceps is a modification of fixation forceps.They generally have a sliding lock.They are often used to rotate the globe of the eye and are prefered over traction sutures.

There are instruments that could be reused and there are other instruments that should be disposed. It is an issue mired in economics, politics and patient safety.And while the focus thus far has been primarily on disciplines like cardiology and intervention radiology, ophthalmology has not escaped scrutiny.While this is a rare and extreme case of misuse, it does raise the question of whether the reuse and reprocessing of single-use devices should be more tightly regulated.This is an issue where there are no absolutes.One may be applicable for one type of single-use device, for example a microkeratome blade, but may not be relevant for another device, like for example in a phacoemulsification tip. Secondly, there is a need to take into consideration several issues, including whether the design of the instrument or device is amenable to reuse, whether it can be appropriately sterilized, whether reuse will compromise its function in any way, potentially altering outcomes and whether the device will perform at the same level with the same quality for multiple uses given proper sterilization techniques. But again, this needs to be determined on a case to basis.