Enucleator

An enucleator is a term that can refer to either a person who performs enucleation or a surgical instrument designed to facilitate the enucleation process. The word derives from the Latin enucleare, meaning to “remove the kernel” or core. In medical contexts, an enucleator may be the physician who carries out an enucleation procedure or a device used to detach and remove an organ or structure from surrounding tissues.

In ophthalmology, enucleation most commonly refers to the removal of the eyeball. This procedure is performed for reasons such as malignant intraocular tumors, severe trauma, painful blind eye, or other conditions where eye preservation is not possible or advisable. An enucleator in this setting may be the surgeon who coordinates the operation or an instrument set used to carefully detach the globe from extraocular muscles, optic nerve, and surrounding tissues while minimizing disruption to the socket. The procedure is distinct from evisceration, which removes intraocular contents but leaves the scleral shell intact, and from exenteration, which removes the eye and adjacent tissues.

Enucleation can also describe the removal of a nucleus from a cell in cellular biology, a process used in techniques such as somatic cell nuclear transfer. In this context, enucleation is performed with specialized tools designed to extract the nucleus while preserving the integrity of the surrounding cytoplasm.

Enucleator devices and enucleators as professionals appear across medical, veterinary, and research settings, reflecting the range of indications for enucleation and the need to minimize damage to surrounding tissues. See also enucleation and ocular prosthesis.