Reflector

Reflector, an instrument for reflecting in a specific direction light rays coming from any source. For the best utilization of light in the manufacture of reflectors, either the polished surface of one of the bright metals—silver, nickel—or a glass surface silvered on the inside is used. Depending on its purpose, this surface may be flat or concave, and in the latter case the curvature can vary in very diverse forms: spherical, parabolic, etc. In medicine, the use of reflectors is limited to illuminating this or that examined area, and since each individual field of medicine has its own special application of reflectors, they are a necessary component of the general set of instruments for this or that purpose, sometimes with special nomenclature, as for example the ophthalmoscope (see). See also Otorhinolaryngological instruments, Laryngoscopy, Bronchoscopy, Mirrors, Surgical instruments.