Sheehan Nasal Chisel | 16cm | 7mm to 12mm Tips

What the Sheehan nasal chisel is

The Sheehan nasal chisel cuts and reduces the bony structures of the nose. It is bought for rhinoplasty and septorhinoplasty, and it is the pattern reached for when a surface of bone has to be taken down flat rather than divided along a line.

It is a chisel rather than an osteotome, and the whole difference is in the grind. A chisel is beveled on one face only, so it has a flat side and an angled side. The flat side rides along the bone that is staying and the angle shaves the surface being removed. An osteotome is ground on both faces, which puts the edge in the middle of the blade and makes it split into bone instead. Google own AI Overview states the same rule in one line: a chisel is mono beveled, an osteotome is bi beveled.

Catalogues list this instrument as the Sheehan osteotome as well as the Sheehan nasal chisel, and the short form is the one with the searches behind it, so both names are worth knowing when you order. Adas Instruments makes it at 16cm in four tip widths, 7mm, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm.

Key design features of the flat beveled nasal chisel

A thin flat blade on a single bevel

The blade is thin so it can be introduced without lifting more soft tissue than the cut needs, and flat so the face of the bone comes down evenly. A single bevel gives the instrument a reference surface: the flat side is laid on the plane the surgeon wants to keep, and the cut then runs parallel to it rather than wandering into it.

Four tip widths, 7mm to 12mm

Width is what decides how much bone a single pass removes. 7mm takes a narrow strip along a ridge, 12mm crosses the whole dorsum in one bite. All four are ground on the same shaft and the same handle, so swapping widths in the middle of a case does not change how the instrument feels in the hand.

16cm of length, and why that length

Sixteen centimeters puts the handle and the hand outside the nostril while the blade is at the top of the cut. The blade is out of sight within a centimeter of entering, and on a shorter instrument the hand arrives in the line of sight at exactly the moment the surgeon needs to see what is happening.

A flat handle end, and one piece throughout

The far end of the handle is a true flat face, so a mallet lands square and the whole tap goes forward into the blade. There is no joint, screw or moving part on the instrument, so nothing works loose and there is nowhere for tissue or cleaning solution to sit.

Which Sheehan nasal chisel width to order

Four widths on one 16cm shaft, ordered per instrument rather than supplied as a set. Every figure in the table below is our own product record.

If one width is being bought, the 10mm covers the most ground. Building a tray, 7mm and 12mm as a pair covers a narrow ridge and a broad dorsum between them. Note that a separate Sheehan line exists elsewhere in the trade at 1mm to 5mm on a longer shaft; that is not what we grind.

Where the Sheehan nasal chisel is used

Every row below is a procedure this instrument is bought for, and every row says nasal. That is worth stating plainly, because the word chisel belongs to carpentry and to dentistry before it belongs to rhinoplasty, and both of those turn up in the searches that lead here.

In all of these the soft tissue is lifted or the approach made first, and the chisel is then driven by short controlled mallet taps against the flat end of the handle rather than pushed by hand.

What it cuts, and what it has to leave alone

A chisel is judged on the plane it leaves and on what it did not touch getting there. The flat face of a single bevel is a guard of sorts, and using it as one is most of the skill.

That fourth row is the reason the bevel faces the way it does. Turn a single bevel chisel over and the flat side is now against the bone being removed, which is how a cut ends up deeper than it was meant to be.

How it compares with the rest of the nasal chisel family

Five nasal chisels sit beside each other in this range, and they are told apart by the SHAPE OF THE EDGE and by whether the blade carries a guard, not by size or grade. Two are flat or curved and open, two are guarded, one is the moon shape.

So the split is simple. If a flat plane of bone has to come down, this is the instrument. If the cut has to follow a curve, that is the Walter or the McIndoes. If the edge has to work right beside tissue that must not be touched, that is the Braithwaite or the Silver, because those two carry a guard and this one does not.

Sheehan nasal chisel materials and finish

The chisel is ground from high quality medical grade stainless steel, hardened through the blade so a single bevel holds its angle through resharpening, and left softer along the shaft so an off square mallet tap sets no permanent bend. The steel itself is made to a German specification.

The finish is satin rather than mirror bright. Under a headlamp a polished blade throws light straight back up the nostril at the surgeon; satin scatters it. Satin also shows bone dust and dried blood plainly, which is what the instrument is checked for between passes.

Caring for a Sheehan nasal chisel

Rinse the blade under cool running water as soon as the case is finished. Bone dust dried on a flat bevel has to be worked off, and working at an edge is how edges get rounded.

Ultrasonic clean in a neutral pH enzymatic solution, rinse in deionized water, then dry fully before pouching. Tap water left to dry on steel is the ordinary cause of pitting, not the autoclave.

Autoclave at 134 degrees Celsius. Store with the edge guarded and clear of other instruments. On a single bevel one flat face decides whether the instrument still cuts true, so a single nick in it shows up in the cut.

Ordering a Sheehan nasal chisel, and wholesale

The Sheehan nasal chisel is supplied as a single instrument, item code AM-08.08, 16cm, in a 7mm, 8mm, 10mm or 12mm tip. Say which widths you want. It is ground and finished in our own workshop, so a full set can be made with the handle pattern and finish matching the rest of the nasal chisels on a tray.

Wholesale and distributor pricing is available on quantity, and larger orders can carry a laser marked hospital or practice reference at no separate tooling charge. Send the quantity and the marking text and we will quote both.

Item code AM-08.08. Every instrument carries a three year replacement warranty against manufacturing defects. Stock items ship from our own workshop. Backorder items take 10 to 12 working days to make. Production is controlled under an ISO 13485 quality management system.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Sheehan nasal chisel used for

It cuts and reduces the bony structures of the nose in rhinoplasty and septorhinoplasty, shaving a surface of bone down flat rather than splitting it along a line. It is driven by a mallet against the flat end of the handle.

What surgical tools are used in rhinoplasty

A rhinoplasty tray carries elevators to lift the soft tissue, chisels and osteotomes to cut and shape the bone, rasps to smooth it, scissors and forceps for the cartilage, and a mallet to drive the cutting instruments. This chisel is one of the bone instruments.

Is the Sheehan nasal chisel the same as a Sheehan osteotome

They are the same instrument under two catalogue names, and more people search for the osteotome form. Strictly the blade is a chisel, because it is ground on one face, but the trade has never settled on which word to use and both will get you this instrument.

What tip widths does the Sheehan nasal chisel come in

Four: 7mm, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm, all on the same 16cm shaft, ordered per instrument. A separate line at 1mm to 5mm on a longer shaft exists elsewhere in the trade, and that is not the set we make.

What is a surgical chisel

A bladed instrument driven by a mallet to cut bone or cartilage. It is ground on one face, so it has a flat side that rides along the surface being kept and an angled side that shaves material away. A gouge scoops; an osteotome splits.

Related products and categories

• Walter chisel
• McIndoes nasal chisel
• Braithwaite nasal chisel

Browse the full range of osteotomes, chisels and gouges, or see the wider set of rhinoplasty instruments this instrument belongs to.