A handheld surgical retractor device for manually effecting safe and certain contralateral displacement of a patients incised tissue by a single surgical assistant during invasive surgery, while said assistant manually effects lateral displacement of the patients incised tissue to create an operative field. The device includes a handle attached to a first bar for transmitting a compressive force to a second bar to generate a tensile force acting on a retractor blade, with minimum obscuration and obstruction of the operative field. A light pipe may be attached for use in illuminating the operative field. Another device embodiment allows selection of removable retractor blades to match the characteristics of the blade based on the surgical requirements.
