Gillies Skin Hook, 18 cm – J2 German Stainless

At 18 cm this is a long skin hook, and the length is what separates it from the 12 to 15 cm patterns. Those are for tissue at or just below the surface, held close to the hand. This one holds a skin edge across a wider dissection — a scalp flap, a long reconstructive incision — where a short hook would put the assistant’s hand inside the field the surgeon is working in.

The trade is that a longer shaft magnifies any movement of the hand at the tip, so the tension applied has to be steadier. That is manageable for skin, which is elastic and forgiving of small variations, but it is why the same length would be wrong for the fine ball-tipped instruments used on eyelid or mucosa. J2 stainless holds a fine point through repeated sterilisation, which matters on an instrument whose usefulness depends entirely on the sharpness of its tip.

Specifications