One or more surgical instruments provide access to delicate tissue, such as
brain tissue or
breast tissue, through a transcutaneous incision, for a variety of reasons, such as to access a
surgical site for providing a working channel for accessing delicate tissue by surgical instruments, to provide access to insert an
inflatable prosthesis, or for providing an external
buttress channel for supporting tissue thereon. The
surgical instrument assembly includes an interleaved combination of an open sleeve hollow
retractor and a tapered tipped wedge introducer. The wedge introducer is introduced into an area adjacent to the hollow sleeve. The distal tip of the wedge introducer extends beyond a distal end of the hollow
retractor, forward of a distal end of the hollow
retractor, so that the wedge introducer traverses delicate tissue ahead of the distal end of the hollow retractor, guiding the hollow retractor into place to the delicate tissue.