Endoscopes can and will get broken at some point in their lifetime which will result in a necessary repair. The following list includes common damage and potential causes. By being aware of these potential causes and acting to prevent them repair instances can be greatly reduced.SYMPTOMSBroken Rod Lenses: Characterized by a blurred image, partial image or no image. Broken lenses can be the result of the insertion tube experiencing sudden impact, excessive bending or thermal shock.Scratches: Typically scratches will appear as a blurred image, spot in the image, or only a partial image. They can occur from a sudden impact of the objective lens, rough handling during sterilization and / or cleaning with an abrasive material.Shadowing: Potentially resulting in poor illumination, color reproduction and / or cloudy image. Causes can be attributed to the distal fiber optics being burned or broken by another instrument, shaver, electrode, laser or stained distal window.Foggy: Fogging of the image is a condition of over soaking, over heating, abuse, wrong instrumentation and / or excessive bending of the insertion tube. The likely cause is moisture invasion in the optical system during the sterilization process from broken seals.Fuzzy Image: This situation could be the result of broken or chipped rod lenses; separated bond lines; cracked, scratched, chipped distal and / or proximal window or often is the result of the endoscope being out of focus. Loss of focus can be caused by the ocular housing shifting by sudden impact or the retaining screw coming loose.
