Vaginal speculum apparatus

A vaginal speculum comprising:

• an upper blade;
• a lower blade including a handle portion having a receiving cavity, the receiving cavity being enclosed with the exception of an open end in a lower end of the handle portion;
• and
• a curved light pipe having a proximal end disposed in an upper end of the handle portion and a distal end disposed along an elongate portion of the lower blade, a portion of the light pipe extending substantially along at least an axial portion of the lower blade and in which the speculum is configured to receive a compact illuminator housing in the receiving cavity such that a contained illumination source is optically coupled to a proximal end of the light pipe, and in which the distal end surface of the curved light pipe is defined by an angle relative to an axis extending parallel to the handle portion of the lower blade of between about 55 degrees and about 80 degrees.

A method for manufacturing a speculum assembly, the method comprising:

• providing a speculum with an upper blade, a lower blade including a handle portion having a receiving cavity, the receiving cavity being enclosed with the exception of an open end in a lower end of the handle portion;
• providing a curved light pipe in the speculum, the curved light pipe having a proximal end disposed in an upper end of the handle portion and a distal end disposed along an elongate portion of the lower blade;
• providing an illuminator, the illuminator comprising a housing, a light source, at least one battery retained within the housing, circuitry interconnecting the at least one battery and light source and a switch for selectively energizing the light source;
• and
• disposing the illuminator within the receiving cavity of the handle portion such that the light source is optically coupled to the proximal end of the curved light pipe.