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research-article2014

SRIXXX10.1177/1553350614528385Surgical InnovationGorgülü et al

Letter to the Editor Surgical Innovation 2015, Vol. 22(1) 108­–109 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1553350614528385 sri.sagepub.com

How to Make a Sensitive and Sterile Caliper in Less Than a Minute During an Operation Tahsin Görgülü, MD1, Ayhan Buz1, and Eksal Kargi, MD1 Dear Editor High-quality images with a proper length-scale bar play an essential role in reporting the findings of a reconstructive and aesthetic surgery operation. Sterile and sensitive tools are required to take accurate measurements during a surgical operation. The most common method used in the open literature is to measure the area of interest in the body with a tape measure. However, this type of scale setup usually does not provide precise measurements.

Figure 1.  Using caliper for cleft lip planning.

In order to overcome this problem, we have designed a handmade Vernier caliper. With this apparatus, we can easily put sterilized surgical tools in use in less than a minute during an operation (Supplementary material, Video [http://sri.sagepub.com/content/by/supplementaldata]). To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous work presented to address this problem. Our tool design consists of a paper tape measure, 2 injector needles, and braided suture material (or strip of a

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Bulent Ecevit University, Zonguldak, Turkey

Corresponding Author: Tahsin Görgülü, Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Department, Medical Faculty, Bulent Ecevit University, A blok Kat: 3 Kozlu, Zonguldak 67300, Turkey. Email: [email protected]

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Gorgülü et al hand glove). The first needle is fixed on the zero point of the tape measure whereas the other needle is attached to the tape measure with braided suture piece or hand glove strip to allow uniaxial movement. The tool is now ready to use to measure the dimensions of an object while taking photographs of the area of interest in surgical procedures.

This empiric and useful tool design is routinely used in our surgical procedures when taking a photograph in which precision is necessary (cleft lip, mammaplasty, rhinoplasty, etc; Figure 1). We recommend using this tool to report more accurate data in plastic surgery literature.

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How to make a sensitive and sterile caliper in less than a minute during an operation.

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