Forceps

FORCEPS, medical instruments, serving for grasping and holding tissues, materials, etc. Forceps are used mainly in surgical manipulations and generally in those procedures where contact with fingers is undesirable or inconvenient. The branches of forceps, due to their special construction, are always in an open state. Forceps are made of steel. Those made of stainless steel are particularly convenient in terms of care. Mainly two types of forceps are distinguished— anatomical and surgical; the former (fig. 5, p. 687-688) are distinguished by the fact that the ends of the branches have transverse notches, while the branches of the latter end in sharp hooks that prevent the forceps from slipping off the object being held. The number of hooks varies from 1 to 4 (fig. 2). In anatomical work, anatomical forceps are mainly used. For physiological work, in addition to ordinary forceps, there are special ones (fig. 1), especially for work under a magnifying glass (fig. 3) and for clamping vessels (fig. 6). In ear practice, Politzer's forceps (fig. 10) with its various modifications (fig. 11) are used. For various manipulations deep in the ear, Volta's (fig. 12), Wilde's (fig. 13), and Cottrau's (fig. 14) forceps are used. For introducing an artificial eardrum, a special Gruber forceps (fig. 9) is used. When opening the middle ear for the attic, Mahu's forceps (fig. 35) is used. In dental practice, Witzel's forceps with various bends (fig. 24 and 25), Ludecken's (fig. 26), and Witzel's for iodoform (fig. 27) are used. In ophthalmic practice during operations, special forceps are used, differing mainly in their small size. For grasping the iris, Graefe's forceps (fig. 68), as well as Fischer's (fig. 7), Heymann's (fig. 8), and Libreich's (fig. 15) forceps are used. For the lens capsule—Luer's (fig. 67), Förster's (fig. 16), and Müller's (fig. 69) forceps. Fixation forceps according to Noyes (fig. 71), according to Graefe with and without clamp (fig. 38 and 36), Monoyer's (fig. 4, 2nd), Galezowski's for excision of the conjunctiva (fig. 37). For strabismus operations, Prince's forceps (fig. 66) is very convenient; for extracting dense cataracts—Reisinger's (fig. 65), Desmarres' (fig. 64)—for extracting cataract remnants; for the same purpose, Panas' forceps (fig. 63) is used. For entropion, Desmarres' (fig. 52), Mellinger's (fig. 17), Peu's (Reich, fig. 18), Warlemont's (fig. 29), Burkhardt's (fig. 32), Brecht's (fig. 34), Bellarminov's (fig. 30), and Kuhnt's (fig. 31) forceps are used; for chalazion—Desmarres' (fig. 33), Ayres' (fig. 70); for trichiasis—Charamis' (fig. 44), Donberg's (fig. 41), Dubois de Lavigerie's (fig. 42); for ptosis, Sichel's forceps (fig. 43) is used. For squeezing out trachoma grains, Donberg's (fig. 40), Bellarminov's (fig. 19 and 39), Smirnov's (fig. 20), Prince's (fig. 54), Knapp's (fig. 55), Hoppe's (fig. 50), Kuhnt's (fig. 53), Herrenhäuser's (fig. 56), and Marczel Falta's (fig. 51) forceps are used. For pulling out eyelashes, Beer's (fig. 60), Brecht's (fig. 21), Bergh's (fig. 22), and Henry's (fig. 23) forceps are used. In surgical operations, anatomical and surgical forceps are most commonly used. Among special forceps, one can mention Farabeef's forceps, used for intestinal sutures (fig. 57). Rostovtsev's forceps for hare-lip operations (fig. 48), Feilchenfeld's for removing splinters (fig. 49). For phimosis operations, it is very convenient to use Knox's forceps or Skilleren's forceps (fig. 61). When suturing the skin to bring together and fix the edges of the wound, Championniere proposed a fork-shaped forceps (fig. 59); for the same purpose, Farkas' forceps (fig. 62) is used. For applying Michel-Michaux clips, forceps by the same author (fig. 47), as well as the self-retaining Schwabe forceps (fig. 46) and Seubert's (fig. 45) are used. Rubaix's forceps (fig. 58) is very convenient for grasping and introducing ligatures into a needle. In addition to special hemostatic clamps, there are special forceps adapted for the same purpose: Friche's, Langenbeck's, Luer's (fig. 58), and Dieffenbach's.

F. Yanishevsky.