Surgical retractor

Claim 1

A retractor for use in hand surgery comprising: a. a paddle-shaped pallet with an oval blade portion on which an incised hand is adapted to be positioned and a handle portion in which the forearm is adapted to be positioned; b. a plurality of notches along the periphery of the oval blade and along the side edges of said andle portion; c. a multiplicity of pairs of elongated slots in the oval blade extending so as to be laterally along each side of each finger in use; d. a flexible band extending up through each pair of elongated slots for receiving a finger therethrough thereby holding said fingers in place on the pallet; d. a flexible, elongated member which is adapted to extend transversely across the forearm and has notch-engaging means at its ends engaging the notches along the periphery of the handle portion and a notch therein intermediate its ends; f. a plurality of elongated ball-and-link chains in which the links are longer than the pallet thickness and the ball diameters are longer than the width of the notches along the periphery of the pallet; and g. a hook on one end of each said chain which is adapted to be hooked into said incision, the other ends thereof being inserted in the notches along the periphery of the pallet or the intermediate notch of said member, whereby the incision may be held open at a desired tension and a desired direction.