A concealed-blade scalpel includes an elongated housing forming an interior cavity and an opening at one end of the housing to provide access to the interior cavity. A surgical cutting blade is mounted within the cavity for sliding movement relative to the housing so that the blade can be moved between (1) a retracted position in which the cutting edge of the blade is located entirely within the cavity, and (2) an advanced position in which the cutting edge of the blade is positioned outside the housing to permit the blade to be used for cutting. An actuator is coupled to the blade for manually moving the blade to the advanced position in response to manual pressure applied to the actuator, and a biasing element continuously urges the blade toward the retracted position for automatically retracting the blade.
