McIndoe Cartilage Scissors, Serrated, for Cartilage and Dense Fibrous Tissue

What cartilage scissors are

Cartilage scissors are heavy bladed surgical scissors used to cut cartilage, which is too dense and too slippery to be divided cleanly by an ordinary pair. The McIndoe pattern adds serration to one edge, and that serration is the whole reason the instrument exists.

Cartilage does two things under a blade. It resists, because it is far stiffer than the soft tissue around it. And it squirts, because a wet cartilage surface against a smooth steel edge slides forward as the blades close. A pair that slides has not cut anything; it has pushed the graft out of the jaws and left a ragged edge where it did bite.

Serration stops the sliding. The teeth on one blade hold the piece while the other edge does the cutting, so the cut starts where the surgeon put it and finishes in the same line. Adas Instruments makes these cartilage scissors with gold rings on the carbide version, which is the pair in the photograph on this page.

Why serration matters more than sharpness on cartilage scissors

The instinct with a difficult cut is to ask for a sharper blade. On cartilage that is the wrong lever.

A very sharp smooth edge will cut cartilage, but it has no grip, so the work goes into pushing the piece rather than parting it. The blade meets a curved slippery surface and finds the path of least resistance, which is sideways. On an alar batten graft or a septal strut being cut to a marked line, sideways is a ruined graft.

Serrated cartilage scissors solve the grip problem and lose almost nothing in cutting quality, because the smooth blade opposite the teeth still does the shearing. What the teeth cost is cleaning time, since debris sits between them and has to be brushed out rather than wiped off.

There is a second use surgeons mention, which is fibrous tissue. Scar, dense fascia and old graft material behave the same way as cartilage under a smooth blade: they slip. The same serrated pattern holds them, which is why a McIndoe pair often ends up on a revision tray rather than a primary one.

Clinical applications

Cartilage scissors go wherever cartilage has to be divided or shaped, and wherever tissue is too fibrous for a plain edge.

Blade and edge options on McIndoe cartilage scissors

Four builds of these cartilage scissors are listed at the top of this page, and each one changes what the pair is good for.

Standard is a conventionally ground stainless edge with the serration on one blade. Standard supercut puts a razor grind on the smooth blade while keeping the serrated one, which is the combination most rhinoplasty surgeons ask for: grip on one side, a clean shear on the other.

Tungsten carbide brazes carbide inserts along the cutting edges. Carbide is far harder than surgical stainless, and on an instrument that spends its life cutting the hardest tissue on the tray that difference shows up as procedures between sharpenings rather than as a feel in the hand. Tungsten carbide supercut is both, and it is the version to buy if these cartilage scissors are going to be used on every list.

Gold rings mark every carbide build, in this range and across the trade. It is a warning to whoever sharpens the instrument, not decoration.

Technical specification

Every line describes the cartilage scissors we hold in stock, not a figure taken from a trade catalogue.

Care and sterilisation of cartilage scissors

Serration is the reason this pair needs more attention than a plain scissor, not less.

Cartilage debris packs into the teeth and sets. Once it has dried in there the serration stops gripping, which means the instrument starts doing exactly the thing it was bought to prevent. A wipe does not clear it. Flush the blades under cold water the moment they leave the field, then brush along the serration with a soft instrument brush before the pair goes into the ultrasonic bath.

Check the teeth against a light before every list. A serrated edge fails differently from a smooth one: instead of going blunt all over, individual teeth flatten or chip, and the pair then grips unevenly and skews the cut. Look for a flat spot rather than for dullness.

Autoclave with the joint wide open so steam reaches inside the box lock, dry the instrument completely, and oil the screw weekly. Carbide and supercut builds go to a sharpener who handles those specifically; an ordinary wheel will flatten a razor grind and lift an insert.

Made by Adas Instruments

We grind and serrate these cartilage scissors ourselves, so all four builds are shelf stock rather than special orders, and the standard edge starts at 12 dollars.

Serration quality is the part worth asking about, because it is where cheap McIndoe scissors fail. Teeth that are stamped rather than cut have a rounded profile that grips for a while and then stops. Ours are cut and then hand finished, and the pair is tested on cartilage before it is packed. Ask for an evaluation pair and test it on the tissue you actually cut. We supply branded or plain for distributors, and we laser mark to a customer reference on request.

Frequently asked questions

What are cartilage scissors used for?

Cutting and shaping cartilage, mainly in rhinoplasty, septoplasty and otoplasty, and trimming cartilage grafts to a marked line. They are also used on scar and dense fibrous tissue, which behaves the same way as cartilage under a blade.

Why is one blade serrated?

To hold the piece while the other blade cuts. Wet cartilage slides forward out of a smooth pair of jaws as they close, so the cut wanders or stops. The teeth grip it in place, and the cut finishes in the line it started in.

What is the difference between McIndoe and Mayo scissors?

Mayo scissors are a general heavy dissecting scissor for fascia and thick tissue. McIndoe cartilage scissors are built for cartilage specifically, and the serration on one blade is what separates them. A Mayo pair will cut cartilage badly, and McIndoe scissors are not the right instrument for general blunt dissection.

Does the serration make cartilage scissors harder to clean?

Yes, and it is the one real cost of the design. Debris sits between the teeth and has to be brushed out under cold water before the ultrasonic bath rather than wiped off. Skip that and the serration stops gripping within a few lists.

Is tungsten carbide worth it on cartilage scissors?

More than on most patterns. These cut the hardest tissue on the tray, so a ground steel edge dulls faster here than it would anywhere else. If the pair is used weekly, carbide pays for itself in procedures between sharpenings.

Related instruments and categories

This pattern is listed under plastic surgery scissors with the rest of our scissor range, and under rhinoplasty instruments with the elevators, rasps and osteotomes it shares a tray with.

For cartilage on the nasal bridge specifically, the angled patterns reach further into a closed nose: the Fomon dorsal scissors and the Cottle dorsal scissors. For the fine work at the nasal tip there is the 10 cm Converse scissors, and for soft tissue rather than cartilage the Joseph dissecting scissors.