Advances in medical technology and the surgical microscope have made tremendous advancements from its first inception in 1660. By 1830 John J. Lister provided sturdier stand to the microscope and by 1904 the microscope had three lenses that were interchangeable. The microscopes of today while using the same theory have far many uses than the early ones in medical procedures and in actual surgeries, where the ones of the past would not have been useful. They would however have gotten a lot of attention from the medical community, which would have been in awe at the technology.
Today there are surgical microscopes like the Zeiss microscopes that are used for heart and spinal surgery. It is also used for neurosurgery and reconstructive surgery, rather than the microscopes of the past that sat on a table with interchangeable loupes. This microscope is used during surgeries and has two independent zoom systems and to internal focusing systems. This is all through a single lens that the surgeon can control as needed during the medical procedure.
What this single lens does is to allow the surgeon to see inside of deep incisions and at the same time with a hand or foot switch adjust the microscope. This also allows for a unique way to collaborate with other surgeons or medical assistants in the operating room. One of the other things the Zeiss microscope does is make surgeries safer and have more successful results in many different medical procedures and surgeries.
The Zeiss microscopes can be on a floor stand, on a fixed column or on a ceiling mount, which places it in a location that is out of the way for movement of the surgical team, but yet located where it needs to be for the patient. The surgical microscope is made to have high resolution and bright illumination, which allows the medical procedure more precise. In some cases the surgical microscope has the ability to process images.
These are advancements in medical microscopes that make surgeons better and are distant relatives of the early microscopes used by medical professionals and chemists in the local apothecary. The Zeiss microscope would not be of use for the applications the scope was used for in the past in medicine, since it does not use slides to see blood smears or for other medical reasons they were use.
