Hartmann Nasal Cutting Forceps | 5, 7, 8 and 11 mm Jaws

What a Hartmann nasal cutting forceps is

Most of the instruments on this page of our catalog have one jaw and a choice of tip angles. The Hartmann has four jaws, and that is the whole reason to pick it: the bite size is a decision the surgeon makes before the operation rather than a compromise he lives with during it.

5 mm, 7 mm, 8 mm and 11 mm. Four instruments. The old version of this page said “5mm to 11mm”, which reads as a continuous range, and it is not: there is no 6 mm and no 9 mm, and ordering by range rather than by figure is how a theater ends up with two of the same size.

There is one thing about this instrument that matters more than the sizes, and it is about the name. HARTMANN IS ALSO AN EAR INSTRUMENT. Our own Search Console records five separate ear searches reaching this site for the Hartmann name, “hartmann ear forceps”, “hartmann aural forceps”, “hartmann ear specula” and two more, against nine impressions for the nasal form. Nearly half the people looking up this surgeon’s name want an aural instrument. So the word NASAL stays in the name, in the title and in every keyword this page carries, and the bare “Hartmann forceps” is deliberately not a phrase we chase.

It is listed as a Hartmann nasal cutting forceps and as a Hartmann nasal punch, which describes the through cutting action of the jaw.

What we do not publish is an overall length. The four jaw figures are ours, from our own attribute set. The length is not on our record and so it is not on this page.

Key design features

Four jaw sizes, and what each is actually for

5 mm is a small bite for working next to a structure you are keeping. 7 mm and 8 mm are the everyday sizes. 11 mm takes a mouthful and is for clearing bulk where fine control is not the constraint. Buying the 8 mm alone is the sensible single purchase; buying the 5 mm and the 11 mm as a pair covers the two jobs that matter.

Discrete sizes, not a range

Four instruments with four jaws. Nothing adjusts. Said plainly because the previous version of this page implied otherwise, and a theater ordering “the 5 to 11 mm” gets whatever the picker reaches for.

The word nasal is load bearing

Not a styling choice. The Hartmann name also belongs to an aural forceps and an ear speculum, and our own search data shows those searches arriving here. A page that wins the bare eponym wins a visitor who wanted a different instrument, which costs us both something.

Nothing plumbed into it

Steel and a joint. No light, no suction, no coating, no ratchet. Nothing to flush and nothing to wear through.

Which jaw size to order

Four real figures, from our own attribute set, which makes this the best evidenced size table in the category.

Where it is used

Nasal and sinus work, and the size changes with the job rather than with the surgeon.

What it holds back, and what it must not do

Choosing the wrong size is the fault this instrument is most prone to.

How it compares with the rest of the family

Four cutting forceps, and the Hartmann is the one you buy for the size choice.

Materials and finish

Every Hartmann 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 four jaws made to four different figures are each still that figure after two hundred autoclave cycles, because a set that has drifted is a set with two of the same size in it, and the answer to that is in the making rather than in the alloy.

The four sizes are made to the same pattern and ground to four figures, and each one is checked against its own number rather than against the others. On an instrument whose whole value is that the sizes are discrete, a jaw that is nominally 7 mm and actually 8 is worse than no choice at all.

There is no sharp external edge anywhere on the outline, and the sharpness is on the inside of the jaw where it belongs.

Caring for it

Wash the joint open and brush the jaw both closed and open, because a punch jaw traps a thin layer of tissue at the margin that is invisible with the jaws shut.

Warm water and a soft brush. Autoclave with the tray. Keep the four sizes marked and stored in order: the figures are stamped but they are small, and a set that has been mixed up is a set where the surgeon no longer knows which bite he is about to take.

Ordering and wholesale

Every Hartmann 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 Hartmann nasal cutting forceps used for?

Cutting and removing tissue in the nose and sinuses in measured bites: polyps, ethmoid partitions, septal cartilage and turbinate tissue. The four jaw sizes let the bite be chosen for the job.

What jaw sizes are available?

Four: 5 mm, 7 mm, 8 mm and 11 mm. They are four separate instruments and nothing adjusts, so order by the figure rather than by the range.

Is this the same as Hartmann ear forceps?

No, and the confusion is real enough that we measure it. The Hartmann name also belongs to an aural forceps and an ear speculum, and our own search data shows those searches arriving on this site. This page is the NASAL cutting pattern.

Which size should I buy first?

The 8 mm if you are buying one. If you can buy two, the 5 mm and the 11 mm, because they cover the two jobs the middle sizes compromise between.

How long is the instrument?

We do not publish an overall length. The four jaw figures come from our own attribute set, which is why they are on this page; the length is not on our record and we will not borrow another manufacturer’s figure for it.

Related products and categories

For fenestrated cups in five Fig sizes and three angles, the Weil Blakesley nasal cutting forceps. For a lighter fenestrated instrument, the Takahashi nasal cutting forceps. For the same through cutting action in one jaw, 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.