Gerzog-Sexton Ear Knife — Combination Pattern

Gerzog-Sexton Ear Knife — Combination Pattern

The Gerzog-Sexton combination knife pairs Bernard Gerzog’s curved-blade geometry (designed for tympanic-membrane incision) with Samuel Sexton’s slender shaft (designed for narrow-canal access) into a single instrument for the specific procedure of office paracentesis through a narrow paediatric canal in the era before grommets were available. Both surgeons practised in late-nineteenth-century New York and their combined design was promoted by the New York Otologic Society for paediatric outpatient ENT.

Office paediatric paracentesis

Before grommets and before reliable paediatric general anaesthesia, paracentesis in the small child was performed in the office under topical phenol-glycerine drops and a brief restraint — the procedure had to be fast and the instrument had to fit the child’s narrow canal. Gerzog-Sexton’s combination knife was the New York School’s answer to this constraint; it remains in some teaching kits as a medical-history artefact.

Modern indication

Modern paediatric myringotomy is performed under general anaesthesia in the operating theatre with grommet insertion as a single procedure — the Gerzog-Sexton’s clinical role has been largely superseded.