Buxton's selection of tendon strippers addresses a variety of specific surgical objectives. Dr. Sterling Bunnell's design is especially well suited for loosening tendon adhesions. Each stripper is slotted to enable the instrument to envelop the tendon without the need to sever either the proximal or distal attachments. The handles are cylindrical and serrated so the process of loosening adhesions as one works his way up the tendon may be conveniently performed using an alternating rotation action employing the thumb and first finger. These strippers are relatively short, only 140 mm in length, but are offered in 6 diameters to fit virtually any tendon encountered in either the hand or the foot.

Dr. Paul Brand's contributions are longer, ranging in length from 11 to 24 inches. The 285 mm (11 inch) and 350 mm (14 inches) lengths are generally employed for harvesting the palmaris longus, while the 500 mm (20 inches) and 600 mm (24 inches) are ideally suited for retrieving grafts from the plantaris. Original Brand designs featured an unbroken cutting circle to assuage concerns that the stripper may meander away from the tendon as it is extended to its farthest reaches but distal bone attachment of the tendon must be severed before stripping begins. Buxton's Brand Strippers are offered in diameters from 3 mm to 6 mm, in 1 mm increments.

Hand & Footnotes, Vol. 1, No. 1