title: Old instrumentation with a new application: Smillie knife.
abstract: Foot surgery requires various dissection techniques through skin incisions with limited exposure. Although the unique knife was designed for knee surgery, its application for podiatric surgery is ideal. Through small skin incisions, the Smillie knife can use techniques to incise, excise, deglove, unzipper, and strip away soft tissue attachments from bone, cartilage, and other tissues. The Smillie knife or meniscutome is an instrument that is uniquely and specifically designed to allow precise dissection of designated structures. Thus, it maintains closely associated vital structures such as tendons, veins, arteries, and nerves undisturbed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Podiatric Surgery, Western Medical Center, Santa Ana, California.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Byron
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009983:Orthopedic Equipment; D011032:Podiatry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013525:Surgical Instruments