Potts-Smith Dressing Forceps, 18 cm – Tungsten Carbide

Carbide changes what a dressing forceps can be used for. In plain steel the jaw surface is fine for gauze, packing and soft tissue but flattens against needle bodies, so a steel dressing forceps that has spent a year in a busy set no longer holds a needle at all. Carbide inserts keep the surface texture through that use, which is why this version ends up in hands that need one instrument for everything on the tray.

18 cm is a deliberate middle length — longer than the 12 to 15 cm patterns held in the fingers, shorter than the 25 cm forceps built for cavity work. It reaches into a moderately deep field with the hand at the wound edge rather than inside it, which is where most routine surgical handling actually happens.

Specifications