Comm Eye Health Vol. 17 No. 49 2004 pp 14. Published online 01 March 2004.

Letter to the Editor. Sterilising instruments

Ingrid Cox

Training Advisor, CBM International, Kenya

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Dear Editor,

With reference to John Sandford Smith’s article: Sutureless Cataract Surgery in Issue 48 of Community Eye Health, I would like to make the following recommendation.

If surgical knives are soaked in povidone iodine or autoclaved, a ‘protector’ needs to be placed on the tip of the knife before soaking/sterilistion takes place. ‘Protectors’ can be made out of old intravenous infusion tubing or silicone pieces. If the knives are placed directly into a metal kidney dish without a protective rubber mat or gauze on the bottom of the dish and without the tip protected, they will soon become blunt.