Surgical knives: specialty knives and cutting instruments.

The article focuses on specialty surgical knives and cutting instruments used across various medical fields, detailing their design, historical development, and clinical applications. It describes the meniscotome, devised by Ian Scott Smillie for meniscal cartilage removal in orthopaedics; the Humby dermatome, developed by Graham Humby for controlled skin graft harvesting in plastic surgery; the Mackenzie tonsillotome, used historically for tonsillectomy in ear, nose, and throat surgery; and the Wolfe cataract knife, designed by John Reissberg Wolfe for cataract extraction in ophthalmic surgery. The article highlights how advances in surgical techniques and technology have influenced the use and evolution of these instruments.