Weil Blakesley Nasal Cutting Forceps | Fig 1 to Fig 5, Straight, 45 or 90 Degree

What a Weil Blakesley nasal cutting forceps is

Sinus surgery happens in corridors that are not straight. The frontal recess is above you, the maxillary ostium is out to the side, and an instrument that only points forward reaches neither of them properly. The Weil Blakesley is the answer the trade settled on: the same jaw on a shaft bent to three different angles, in five sizes.

Straight for the anterior ethmoid. 45 degree to get above the middle turbinate. 90 degree for the frontal recess and the cells above it, which is the one no straight instrument sees at all. Fig 1 is the smallest jaw and Fig 5 the largest, and on a sinus list a surgeon will go through three of them in a case.

The cups are fenestrated, which does two jobs. Blood and saline escape rather than being compressed, so the jaw closes on tissue instead of on fluid; and the bite is visible through the window before the surgeon commits to pulling. In a field that bleeds, being able to see what you have is worth more than feel.

It is listed as a Weil Blakesley nasal cutting forceps, as a Weil Blakesley nasal forceps, and shortened on a tray list to a Blakesley. LowFruits measures the short form at 20 searches a month and our own Search Console has us at position 1.0 for “blakesley nasal forceps” on two impressions, so somebody is finding us for it already.

One honest limit. We publish the Fig numbers because they are our own attribute, and we do NOT publish what each Fig number measures in millimeters, because our record does not carry it. Rival listings quote 3.0 mm to 5.5 mm across the range. Ask us before ordering if a jaw has to match an existing set, and it is on our own list to measure.

Key design features

Three angles, and what each one reaches

Straight works the anterior ethmoid and the septum. 45 degree gets over and above the middle turbinate. 90 degree goes into the frontal recess, which is the direction a straight instrument simply does not point. The angle is not a preference, it is a different part of the anatomy.

Five Fig sizes

Fig 1 to Fig 5, smallest to largest. The small figures work next to structures being preserved; the large ones clear bulk. Most units carry two or three rather than all five, and the common pair is a small straight and a larger angled.

Fenestrated cups

A window through each cup face. Fluid out, visibility in. On a bleeding sinus the window is the difference between knowing what is in the jaw and guessing, and the guess is how a piece of something you wanted gets removed.

Wide finger rings

The rings are wide rather than narrow, which matters on a case made of a hundred small closures. A narrow ring concentrates the load on one line of the finger and the surgeon feels it an hour later. It is a small thing that is only noticed when it is wrong.

Which size and which angle to order

Two decisions and fifteen combinations, so here is the short way through it.

Where it is used

This is a sinus instrument first and a nasal one second.

What it holds back, and what it must not do

Fifteen combinations is fifteen chances to be holding the wrong one.

How it compares with the rest of the family

Four cutting forceps, and this is the one with the range.

Materials and finish

Every Weil Blakesley nasal cutting forceps we make is cut from high quality medical grade stainless steel. The steel itself is made to a German specification. We do not publish a grade number. The number on a certificate tells a surgeon nothing about whether a 90 degree shaft is still at 90 degrees after two hundred autoclave cycles and a few hundred closures at the end of a long lever, and the answer to that is in the making rather than in the alloy.

The angled shafts are formed and then stress relieved, and the relief is the step that matters here more than on any other instrument in this family. A 90 degree shaft is a long lever and every closure tries to open the bend out; one that has not been relieved slowly becomes an 80 degree instrument and stops reaching what it was bought to reach.

The rim around each fenestration is finished by hand, because a burr on that edge is a small blade in the middle of a working face. There is no sharp external edge anywhere on the outline.

Caring for it

Flush through the fenestration both ways and brush around its rim. Then wash the joint open.

Warm water, a soft brush, autoclave with the tray. Store the angled ones so nothing rests against the bend, and check the angle against a square occasionally: on this pattern the bend is the instrument, and a 90 degree forceps that has opened out to 80 no longer goes where the surgeon is pointing it.

Ordering and wholesale

Every Weil Blakesley nasal cutting forceps is made by Adas Instruments in our own workshop and sold direct, which is why the price sits where it does against the catalog houses. Order one for a single tray, or in quantity for a hospital list or a distributor line. We do OEM work under your own brand and your own item numbers. Send us a sample and we will hold a run to your pattern rather than ours. Stock items ship from our own workshop. Backorder items take 10 to 12 working days to make. Every instrument carries a three year replacement warranty against manufacturing defects. Production is controlled under an ISO 13485 quality management system.

Frequently asked questions

What are Weil Blakesley forceps used for?

Cutting and removing tissue in the nose and sinuses, especially ethmoid cells and the frontal recess. The three shaft angles let the jaw reach corridors a straight instrument does not point at, and the fenestrated cups let fluid out and let the surgeon see the bite.

What do the Fig numbers mean?

Fig 1 to Fig 5 are five jaw sizes, smallest to largest. We publish the Fig numbers because they are our own attribute; we do not publish what each one measures in millimeters, because our record does not carry that and we will not borrow another manufacturer’s figures.

Which angle should I buy?

Straight first, because it does the anterior ethmoid and the septum. 45 degree second, to get above the middle turbinate. 90 degree when you are working the frontal recess, which nothing straight reaches.

Weil Blakesley or Takahashi?

Both have fenestrated cups. Buy the Weil Blakesley for the range, five sizes and three angles; buy the Takahashi if one jaw in a curved or straight tip covers your work and you want a lighter instrument in the hand.

Why is it so much cheaper than the catalog houses?

Because we make it. A US catalog house prices this pattern at 329.99 dollars and ours is 26.50, and the difference is a distributor chain rather than a difference in the instrument. If the gap bothers you, order one and look at it.

Related products and categories

For one fenestrated jaw on a lighter instrument, the Takahashi nasal cutting forceps. For four discrete jaw sizes, the Hartmann nasal cutting forceps. For a plain through cut, the Gruenwald nasal through cutting forceps.

The rest of this family sits under nasal cutting, crusher and septum forceps, and the specula and polypus instruments that work alongside it are under nasal specula and polypus instruments.