Curved scissors are scissors with blades which are curved, to accommodate some specific cutting tasks. The curvature of the blades means that the scissors must be engineered for a specific dominant hand, rather than being ambidextrous in nature, and it is important to find curved scissors which have been fitted for either the right or left hand, depending on which is dominant. These scissors can be obtained 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 great control over the scissors during the cutting process. Some curved scissors have sharp tips, while others have blunted tips for safety and specific applications. Sharp tips are especially common for curved 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 which curves naturally with the nail and the finger, as opposed to nail clippers, which can sometimes generate a ragged or uneven cut. These curved scissors tend to be very sharp, so that they will cut without compressing.

Curved scissors are also utilized in crafting. Embroidery, quilting, and other sewing crafts often present situations in which a pair of curved scissors can be extremely useful. For example, a crafter may need to carefully tease out and snip a thread without worrying about damaging surrounding threads or the underlying fabric, in which case curved scissors are ideal. Some curved scissors 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 also have a use for curved scissors 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 curved 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.