Cronin Lip and Nostril Retractor, 152 mm – 14 mm End

The lip and the nostril sit either side of the same tissue, and in cleft and nasal work they cannot usefully be held apart. Retracting the lip alone drags on the nostril base; holding the nostril alone leaves the lip falling back across the field. A retractor shaped to take both at once holds the whole aperture in a single stable position, so what the surgeon sees is the relationship between the two rather than one of them displaced relative to the other.

That relationship is the thing being reconstructed. Alignment of the lip margin to the alar base is judged by eye during the procedure, and a retractor that distorts either one gives a false reading which only becomes apparent once everything is released. The 14 mm end is wide enough to bear on both structures without the edge pressing into either, and 152 mm keeps the handle clear of the surgeon’s working line.

Specifications