Scalpel
By Stig Steinfurth, med.student, Christoffer Bing Madsen, med. student, and Magnus Balslev Avnstorp, MD
The scalpel
The scalple is used for skin incision and dissection. Shapes are customized, for incision on extremities (no. 10), stab incisions (no. 11), facial incisions (No. 15) and large incision on the truncus (No. 21). Scalpel incisions leave less scar tissue compared to incisions by the monopolar.
How to hold a scalpel:
How to hold a scalpel: The scalpel can be held in a couple of different ways. In the pencil grip the scalpel is held between your first and second finger, resting in the anatomical ‘snuff box’. This is well-suited for short and precise incisions. An alternative is the overhand/fingertip grip. Here the scalpel is held between your first and third finger using the second finger to apply pressure when cutting. This grip is better for longer incisions that do not necessarily require the same exact precision as when using the pencil grip.
To see the scalpel in action please click on the flollowing links:
