Curved scissors are often cutting tools with blades that are bent to accommodate some specific cutting tasks. The curvature of the blades means that the scissors must be engineered for a specific hand, rather than being usable in either, and it is important for consumers to find ones that have been fitted for either the right or left hand. These scissors can be purchased from a number of sources, with medical suppliers, drugstores, and craft suppliers all stocking them.
Commonly, the blades on curved scissors are very small because they are designed for detail and precision work. The handles may be oversized, especially when compared to the blades, allowing for greater control over the blades during the cutting process. Many have sharp tips, although some have blunted tips for safety and specific applications. Sharp tips are especially common for scissors used in tight quarters, since the tips can be used to manipulate the material being cut.
For personal beauty maintenance, curved scissors are used to cut nails quickly and safely, and they can also be used to trim nose and ear hair, assuming that the blades are short and blunt. Nail scissors can be used to create a very smooth and clean cut that curves naturally with the nail and the finger, as opposed to nail clippers, which can sometimes generate a ragged or uneven cut. These scissors tend to be very sharp so that they will cut without compressing.
These scissors are also used in crafting. Embroidery, quilting, and other sewing crafts often involve situations in which scissors with curved blades can be extremely useful. For example, a crafter may need to carefully tease out and snip a thread without worrying about damaging the surrounding threads or the underlying fabric, in which case these scissors are ideal. Some products made for crafting have blunt tips on the bottom blade, so that the scissors do not rip through fabric or thread while they are being used.
People in the medical field may also use these items for tasks like removing stitches, expanding a surgical field, and so forth. The curved blades are ideal for making controlled cuts because they can be snapped shut without the user needing to worry about accidentally cutting surrounding tissue. When removing stitches, for example, the blades can be inserted into a stitch and then gently squeezed shut to snip the stitch open without cutting into other stitches or the margin of the wound.