Surgical equipments are specially designed to perform specific actions of carrying out desired effects during surgeries or operations. The manufacturing of these surgical equipments started millions of years ago. This is supported by the discovery of rough trephines in neolithic areas in many places which are believed to be the tools used by shamans to fight evil spirits and also to cure headaches and shocks. Since the ancient times, before the discovery of microscopes, the Indian surgeons and physicians already have used modern tools for surgery. In fact, at around 500 B.C., the “father of surgery” named Sushuta, described over 120 surgical equipments, 300, surgical procedures, and made the 8 categories of classification in human surgery.

Aside from the most modern classes of microscopes, there are still several classes of surgical equipments widely used in hospitals and laboratories. The first one are called the graspers. Best examples of this class are the tweezers and the forceps. Tweezers are used for picking up small objects that cannot be easily handled with the human hands. They are probably derived from tongs, pincers, or scissors-like pliers used to grab or hold hot objects from the dawn of recorded history and forceps are instrument used for grasping or holding objects, similar in concept to tweezers . Another classification is the clamps and the occluders which are used for the blood vessels and other organs. There are also called the refractors that are used to spread open skin, ribs, and other tissue. There are also called distractors, positioners and stereotactic devices and mechanical cutters. There are also dilators and specula used for access to narrow passages or cuts. There are also suction tips and tubes used to remove bodily fluids, and the irrigation and injection needles for the removal of bodily fluids. There are also drills classified under powered devices, and scopes and probes that include fiber optic endoscopes and tactile probes. Carriers and appliers used for optical, electronic and mechanical devices. There are also ultrasound tissue disruptors, cryotomes and cutting laser guides. And lastly is the classification of measuring devices, such as the rulers and calipers, which also includes the modern microscope widely used for measuring samples or specimens.

New equipments were again invented in order to help the efficiency in conducting surgery during the Renaissance and post-Renaissance era. It is in this period also that amputation originated as a result of the worsening of inflicted wounds caused by the war. However, it was during the discovery of anesthesia and surgical asepsis that new surgical instruments were also invented. This is made in order to permit the penetration of the skull, the thorax and the abdomen. With the explosion of the inventions of the new tools and instruments for surgery and the invention of the modern microscopes during the 19th and the 20th century, comes the introduction of the hundreds of new surgical procedures. These breakthroughs gave way to the start of microsurgery, wherein microscopes plays a major role in all the procedures.