Miller Rake Retractor, 9 Blunt Prongs, 15 mm Wide

What a rake retractor is

A rake retractor is a hand held retractor whose working end is a row of prongs, shaped like a small garden rake. It holds skin, soft tissue and muscle back so the surgeon can see and work, and it does that by taking hold in several places at once rather than one.

Two things vary across the whole family and between them they decide everything: how many prongs there are, and whether those prongs are sharp or blunt. Counts run from one up to nine. Sharp points suit tough superficial tissue and hold it without slipping; blunt points suit deeper or more delicate structures, where a sharp prong would do damage the retraction was never meant to cause.

This one is the Miller pattern, and our own record puts it at the far end of both scales: nine blunt prongs across a 15 mm head. Many small holds, none of them sharp.

Key design features of this miller rake retractor

Four features, and the first two are the whole instrument.

• Nine prongs. The top of the range. Nine holds spread a pull far wider than four do.
• Blunt points. Tissue is held, not pierced.
• A 15 mm head. Narrow, so the nine prongs sit close together and the pull is almost continuous.
• A hand held shaft. Built for superficial work at close range rather than deep exposure.

Miller rake retractor size

The first two rows come from the product name in our own catalog. The rest says where it does not.

This item carries no product attribute table at all, so the nine prongs and the 15 mm are read off our own product name rather than a spec field. Published figures for the pattern add a length of about 13 cm, which is not repeated here as ours. Both gaps are worth closing and are named in our file.

Where a blunt rake retractor is used

A blunt rake retractor is chosen for the tissue it will not damage as much as for the tissue it holds.

What the prongs hold, and what they do not

Nine blunt points have the opposite strengths to four sharp ones, and a buyer deserves both sides.

How this 9 prong rake retractor compares with the rest of the family

Five of the six rows are instruments we make. A 9 prong rake retractor sits at one end of a family whose other end is a single sharp hook.

Materials and finish

Made from high quality medical grade stainless steel, satin finished so the operating light does not reflect off the shaft into the field. The steel itself is made to a German specification. The nine prong tips are rounded and polished individually, which is slower than grinding points and is the reason a blunt rake costs what it does: a tip left rough is a sharp prong by another name.

Care and sterilization

Clean with a soft brush under running water, working along the row of prongs where tissue lodges between them and is easy to miss on a head this narrow, then rinse in deionized water and dry fully before autoclaving. Store on a rack. Check the row by eye against a straight edge: with nine prongs, one bent out of line is hard to spot and it will be the one that catches.

Ordering and wholesale

Adas Instruments makes this pattern to order and supplies hospitals, surgical centers and distributors across the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Item code AP-90.100. Bulk and wholesale pricing is available, and instruments held on backorder ship in 10 to 12 working days. Every instrument carries a three year replacement warranty against manufacturing defects. Certifications: CE. Production is controlled under an ISO 13485 quality management system.

Frequently asked questions

What is a rake retractor used for?

Holding skin, soft tissue and muscle back during open surgery so the operative field can be seen. The row of prongs takes hold in several places at once, which keeps the tension even and stops the tissue bunching between holds the way it does on a single hook.

What is a miller rake retractor?

The Miller pattern is a small rake with nine blunt prongs on a narrow head, ours at 15 mm. It is used for superficial soft tissue retraction in plastic, hand and vascular surgery, where a wide bite is wanted but nothing should be pierced.

Sharp prongs or blunt prongs?

Sharp for tough, dense or superficial tissue such as a subcutaneous layer, where the point has to bite to stop the instrument slipping. Blunt for deeper or more delicate structures, where the retraction is the only thing that should be happening and a sharp point would add an injury.

Why nine prongs rather than four?

Because nine small holds across 15 mm is close to a continuous pull, while four large ones across 40 mm is four separate pulls. On delicate tissue that difference matters: the load per hold is far lower, so nothing is dragged at one point even though the instrument grips across its whole width.

Is a miller rake retractor the same as a senn miller retractor?

No, and they are easy to confuse. This is a single rake head with nine blunt prongs. A Senn Miller is a double ended instrument, usually three prongs at one end and a flat blade at the other, and it is a general surgery and dermatology pattern rather than a dedicated multi prong rake.

Related products and categories

Buyers who order the miller rake retractor usually order alongside it the maxwell flap retractor, the ferreira face lift retractor and the freeman rake retractor 40 mm. The whole family sits in hooks and retractors, and this pattern is also listed under facelift and neck lift instruments.