GUARDED MUSCLE SCISSORS

Abstract

To eliminate the possibility of cutting into the eyeball in surgical procedures on the extraocular muscles, guards were placed on a pair of Aebli muscle scissors. The points of the scissors were blunted with small spherical knobs. Elevator guards, 0.8 mm. high, 9.5 mm. long and 2.5 mm. wide, were placed on both blades halfway between the ball tips and the screw, as shown in the accompanying figure. 1 With the increasing amount of surgical work on the oblique muscles now being done, these guards add a special factor of safety. They are particularly useful in operations on the inferior oblique muscle, in which there is danger of injury to the long ciliary nerve, the vortex veins and the macular area. These scissors have proved useful in other ways. A uniform stump is left in muscle resections when the scissors are applied flush with the sclera. Sutures can be tied