Using advanced discretization techniques to simulate the suturing process

Wounds or cuts in human skin are very common. Superficial wounds normally heal in short time; however, deep wounds usually required clinical intervention such as sutures to provide the wound closure and timely healing. This process affects the mechanical behaviour of the skin. Advanced discretization techniques, such as finite element method (FEM) and meshless methods can be used to predict the geometry of surgical incisions and to analyse stress and strain distribution in the skin aiming to improve scar formation. In this study we constructed 2D models to simulate the suturing process and to analyse the stress and strain fields obtained, using FEM and natural neighbour radial point interpolation method (NNRPIM) analysis. The simulations’ results demonstrated that the highest levels of stress and strain were observed in the area around the wound, in both techniques used. Although this is a preliminary study to estimate the performance of numerical methods in the analysis of stress profile distribution in the human skin, it was possible to conclude that both FEM and NNRPIM are valid tools. Furthermore, the materials used in the simulations were well characterized in terms of elasticity. In the future works, it is intended to refine the model parameters and to include the hyperelastic and the anisotropic behaviour of the human skin.