Exhibit 99.1

                                                         NEWS RELEASE

                                                         Contact:
                                                         CONMED Corporation
                                                         Robert Shallish
                                                         Chief Financial Officer
                                                         315-624-3206



FOR RELEASE:   6:00 PM (Eastern)   November 3, 2004

                CONMED CORPORATION ANNOUNCES PROPOSED OFFERING OF
                      CONVERTIBLE SENIOR SUBORDINATED NOTES


Utica,  New York,  November  3, 2004 -----  CONMED  Corporation  (Nasdaq:  CNMD)
announced today that it intends to offer, in a private  placement,  $125 million
in aggregate principal amount of convertible senior subordinated notes due 2024.
In addition, the Company expects to grant the initial purchasers a 13-day option
to  purchase  up  to  an  additional   $18.75  million  of  convertible   senior
subordinated notes.

It is  contemplated  that the convertible  notes will be subordinated  unsecured
obligations of the Company and will be convertible  under certain  circumstances
into a  combination  of cash and common stock of the Company.  In general,  upon
conversion,  the holder of each note would receive the  conversion  value of the
note payable in cash up to the principal  amount of the note and common stock of
the Company for the note's conversion value in excess of such principal amount.

The Company  intends to use  approximately  $90 million of the net proceeds from
the offering to repay  borrowings  under its senior credit agreement and intends
to use up to $30 million of the remaining net proceeds to repurchase  its common
stock in privately  negotiated  transactions  from a limited  number of persons,
which may include shares sold by purchasers of the convertible  notes in "short"
sales  concurrently  with,  and  contingent  upon,  the sales of the notes.  The
Company  intends  to use  any  remaining  proceeds  not  used to  repay  debt or
repurchase shares for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The convertible  notes will be offered and sold only to qualified  institutional
buyers in  accordance  with  Rule 144A  under  the  Securities  Act of 1933,  as
amended.  The  convertible  notes and the underlying  common stock issuable upon
conversion have not been  registered  under the Securities Act or any applicable
state  securities  laws and may not be  offered  or sold in the  United  States,
absent   registration  or  an  applicable   exemption  from  such   registration
requirements.  This  announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation
of any offer to buy any of the securities to be offered.

Please note that this press release contains  forward-looking  statements within
the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that represent
the Company's current  expectations and beliefs,  including the Company's intent
to complete the offering described above.