Hartmann Nasal Speculum | Infant 20 mm to Large 30 mm Cone Blades

What a Hartmann nasal speculum is

Hartmann nasal specula are the sprung pattern. Three of the five specula we make hold themselves open and two do not, and the Hartmann nasal speculum is deliberately in the smaller group. There is no screw. The handle is a pliers shape with a spring in it, you squeeze and the blades open, you release and they close. Google’s own description of the mechanism is a spring tension configuration opened with single handed finger pressure.

For an examination that is the better instrument, and the reason is feel. A locked speculum is a fixed width and the hand that set it has gone. A sprung one is telling your fingers how hard the ala is pushing back for the whole time it is in the nose, and on a nasal examination speculum used thirty times in a clinic morning that matters more than a free hand does.

The blades are the other half of it: short, tapering cones with blunt contoured edges. Short because an examination is about the front of the nose, the septum, the mucosa and the inferior turbinate, and blunt because the instrument goes in on somebody who is awake.

Our four sizes are our own: infant 20 mm, small 22 mm, medium 25 mm and large 30 mm. The 20 mm is why this is the one page in the category that may honestly call itself a pediatric nasal speculum; no other instrument we make here has an infant blade.

One comparison worth making, because Google makes it first. The answer for this pattern says the Hartmann profile is highly similar to the Vienna and Halle variants. We do not make a Vienna, and “vienna nasal speculum” is searched 590 times a month, so if you have been issued a Vienna and are looking for the same thing, this is the closest pattern on our shelf. That is a comparison, not a claim that they are the same instrument.

Key design features

Spring tension, not a screw

Squeeze to open, release to close, one hand. Nothing locks. On an examination that is the feature, not a limitation: your fingers know what the nostril is doing. When you want the speculum to hold itself and give you a hand back, you want a Killian or a Cottle and you are no longer examining, you are operating.

Four sizes, and one of them is for infants

20, 22, 25 and 30 mm on our own record, named infant, small, medium and large. The 22 and 25 cover almost all adult clinic work. The 20 mm is the only infant blade in this category and it is the reason a pediatric list buys from this page.

Cone blades with blunt edges

Tapering, so the blade is narrowest where it enters and spreads behind it, and blunt along the edge because the patient is awake and the mucosa is not anesthetized. Google describes the same geometry as facilitating a gentle insertion that guards against accidental tissue trauma, which is a long way of saying it should not hurt.

Serrated handle outsides

Horizontal serrations on the outside of each handle. A clinic speculum is held in a gloved hand that may have gel or blood on it, and a smooth handle turns in the grip at the moment you least want it to.

Which blade size to order

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

Where it is used

A clinic instrument before it is an operating room one, and a nasal speculum exam is most of what it does.

What it opens, and what it must not do

Most of this list follows from the blades being short and the handle being sprung.

How it compares with the other four specula

The lock and the blade length decide everything, and this page is the short unlocked corner of the table.

Materials and finish

Every Hartmann nasal speculum 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. A certificate says nothing about whether a spring still pushes back the same way after two hundred autoclave cycles, because a spring that has gone soft turns an examination speculum into a pair of tongs. The answer to that is in the making rather than in the alloy.

The spring is part of the handle rather than a separate fitted piece, so there is nothing to work loose and nothing to replace. The trade is that a tired spring is a tired instrument, which is why the temper matters more here than on the screw patterns.

The two cone blades are ground as a matched pair so they open parallel, and the edges are rolled blunt after grinding rather than left as they come off the wheel. No sharp external edge anywhere on the outline, and the coating goes on after the grinding so no coating sits on a working face.

Caring for it

Wash it open and dry it open. The spring section holds water in the bend and a speculum put away wet corrodes where you cannot see it.

Warm water and a soft brush, nothing abrasive on the blade faces. Autoclave with the tray. Squeeze it closed and let go every so often: the blades should spring back briskly to the same place. A lazy return is a soft spring, and a soft spring on a clinic instrument is felt by the patient before it is noticed by anybody else.

Ordering and wholesale

Every Hartmann nasal speculum 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 is a Hartmann nasal speculum used for?

Examining the inside of a nose: anterior rhinoscopy to inspect the septum, the mucosa and the inferior turbinates, plus foreign body removal, nasal packing and biopsy at the front of the nose. The short cone blades and the sprung handle make it a clinic instrument rather than a surgical one.

Is the Hartmann nasal speculum self retaining?

No, and that is deliberate. It is a pliers handle with spring tension, opened with one hand, and it closes when you let go. If you need a speculum that holds itself open so both hands are free, buy the Killian or the Cottle.

Which size should I buy first?

25 mm, the medium. It covers most adult clinic work. Add the 20 mm infant blade if you see children, because that is the only infant blade in this category, and the 30 mm if you want a full adult view.

Is this the same as a Vienna nasal speculum?

No. Google’s own answer says the Hartmann profile is highly similar to the Vienna and Halle variants, and that is a fair description of the family, but they are different patterns and we do not make a Vienna. If a tray list specifies Vienna, ask us before you substitute this one.

Can it be used on a child?

Yes, with the 20 mm infant blade. It is the only product in this category whose own size range includes an infant blade, which is why a pediatric list ends up on this page rather than on one of the long bladed specula.

Related products and categories

For the other speculum you hold rather than lock, the Thudichum nasal speculum. For a long bladed one that holds itself open, the Killian nasal speculum, or the fiber optic Killian if the field is deep and dark.

The rest of this family sits under nasal speculum and polypus instruments, and the wider set for the operation is under rhinoplasty instruments.