| What does "Microscope" mean? |
Micro = small Scope = optical instrument Operating = surgical procedure Microscope = an optical instrument for magnifying images of small objects |
| What does it do? |
During surgical procedures it enables small parts of the body
to be optically enlarged to enable fine surgical inspections
and procedures to be performed with optimum precision. |
| Physiology |
Operating microscopes are used in many different applications. The main areas are neurosurgery, ophthalmology, plastic surgery, gynaecology, ENT or any area where image enlargement is required and the instrument is accessible.
|
| How it works |
The three main components are the 1) Microscope body, 2) Light source, 3) Microscope stand. The microscope body is made up of the eyepieces, binocular tube, beam splitter, magnification changer, fine focus control, objective lens and dovetail connection to the microscope stand. It is the body that performs all the optical magnification of small objects to enable a clearer, larger view of the operating site. The beam splitter enables a second viewer and a camera to be installed to go to a monitor. The light source is most often in the form of a cold light source mounted on the stand with fiberoptics directing the light to the operating site highlighting the object often from 2 different directions to reduce shadows. The microscope stand is a series of counterbalanced swivelling joints that can be smoothly moved to the optimum position for viewing then easily locked to give a solid platform from which the body can be mounted to reduce vibration while microscope is in use. |
| Picture of equipment |
|
 |