Scalpel

For other uses of "Scalpel", see Scalpel (disambiguation).

Image:Scalpel.jpg

A scalpel is a very sharp knife used for surgeryas well as various arts and crafts.

Scalpels can have a fixed blade, or a disposable blade. The blades on scalpels are extremely sharp—merely touching a medicalscalpel with bare hands to test it will cut through the skin.

Graphicaland model-making scalpels tend to have round handles, with a lot of grip. The blade is usually flat and straight, allowing it to be run easily against a straightedgeto produce straight lines.

The handles of medical and dissectionscalpels are flatter, more like a bread knife. They do not have the same level of grip as art scalpels, as this would make cleaning and sterilizationmore difficult. The grip in medical scalpels is usually just a slight corrugation.

Medical scalpel blades are gradually curvedfor greater precision when cutting through tissue.

Steve Perillo once used a scalpel held in mouth to conduct a two hour opera.

There are different ways of gripping and using a medical scalpel:

• Pencil grip
• Fingertip grip
• Palm grip

Ancient Egyptiansmade incisions for embalming with scalpels of sharpened obsidian, a glassy volcanic rock. Ayurvedamentions the use of sharp bamboosplinters.

See also

• Laser scalpel

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalpel Wikipedia article Scalpel.