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Surgical retractors designed to temporarily separate and hold back the edges of an incision on the skin and underlying thin subcutaneous tissue, exposing and providing access to superficial anatomic structures. These retractors usually consist of manual instruments with curved blades at the distal tip that can penetrate deeper than skin retractor blades and an integral scissors-like double handle with a ratchet to provide self-retention. Subcutaneous tissue surgical retractors are used for surgical procedures on delicate tissues such as the axilla or children tissue; some subcutaneous retractors are sometimes used for deeper procedures such as operation of varices and hernias, they may include a ratchet mechanism to provide self-retention.
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