Many elements can determine the success of your surgical practice. The main ones include the recovery rate of your patients and the success of your surgical procedures. While you might employ the best surgeons, these will do little without the right instruments. There are four categories of surgical instruments that you should invest in, and there are dissecting, grasping, occluding, and exposing instruments.
Hemorrhoids are some of the most common conditions you will handle in surgery. One of the standard techniques for their treatment is banding using a hemorrhoid ligator, which cuts its blood supply and causes its shrinkage and falling off. This is an occluding instrument.
One of the other common methods of occluding tissues is through suturing. This includes the use of a needle and suture material. The following are the types of suturing needles used in surgery.
Curved Needles
These are the most commonly used needles in the surgical department. They are generally used for suturing in confined spaces since they can readily access the tissues here. In most cases, the greater a needle curvature, the higher its efficacy in confined spaces.
The curvature options available for surgical needles are 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, and 1/4 circles. The 1/4 needle, for example, is ideal for holding skin, fascia, and eye and vascular tissue, while the 5/8 one is used in the pelvis, oral cavity, and urogenital tract. There are different lengths for the needles available in these curvatures.
Cutting Needles
These comprise of a triangular cross section and an extremely sharp edge. As such, the needle will act as a scalpel when passing through tissue.
- A conventional cutting needle has a concave curvature and is used for suturing the oral and nasal cavities, the skin, and the ligaments.
- Reverse cutting needles have a convex curvature, which reduces the odds of the needle cutting tissue outwards. They are used for suturing the tendons, ligaments, and fascia.
- Tapered needles have cutting points limited to their tips and cause minimal tissue trauma while delivering a high initial penetration. They are used on the fascia, ligament, scar tissue, and uterus.
Round-Bodied Needles
These are conical and have a circular cross-section. The round bodies of these needles allow them to have minimal resistance when passing through tissue. Round-bodied needles are however best-suited for inserting deep sutures in wounds since they can snap when forced through tough fascia or skin.
Straight Needles
This is used for the suture of tissues that are easily accessible and can be manually manipulated. You can opt to use starlight needles without other surgical instruments, such as a needle holder and dissecting forceps. This technique is, however, cumbersome and poses a risk of needlestick injuries. As such, it is best to use a straight needle with other instruments.
You might focus on the bulky instruments for your practice and forget about the above needles, yet they make all the difference. The best choice is to source all your instruments from one supplier. Other than the discount and convenience that comes with this option, it guarantees that the suture needles you get match the suture thread you will buy.
