DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF SUTURE-LESS WOUND CLOSURE DEVICE

Abstract

Injuries are among one of the leading threats to health that people especially soldiers face in daily routine. Most of the injuries that armed forces face consist of wounds in the cutaneous layer. Moreover, in daily routine people get cuts on their skin. Therefore, the search for such devices and materials that can effectively and efficiently work for the closure of superior cutaneous wounds on skin both in the battlefield and in a medical clinic setting to favor cutaneous wounds just to assist careful closure has huge importance. The methods and materials for suturing open wounds are improved during last few years but conventional needle and thread method is most practiced in normal routine. Unlike conventional suturing techniques, this study presents development of a new, painless, easy to apply and needle-free non-invasive device that does not cause extra damage to the site of injuries and requires no anesthesia infusion to wound before applying the device. This research proposes a device that features strip and lock parts that are easily 3d printable with Polymer. It attaches with microporous adhesive tape through cyanoacrylate glue. The suture-less wound closure device was applied to the edges of injury on skin and wound is closed by pulling strips through locks, strips fit into locks like zip ties and wound edges come closer to each other. The design of this device makes eversion of edges of skin which is the main purpose of skilled doctors to achieve while closing the wound. The performance of this device was tested on animal models and it performs well in comparison with conventional suturing techniques.