What are Wound Closure Products?

A wound closure product is a medical product that is designed to pull the two sides of an open wound together to improve the healing process and reduce scarring. The ability of these closures to keep the sides of the wound together create an optimal environment for the healing process to fuse the two sides of the wound back together.

There are three phases to the healing process for a wound, the first is inflammation stage where blood and other cells migrate to the wound to begin repairing it. The second phase is the tissue formation stage, where the blood and cells start working to build new tissue where the old tissue has been damaged. The third and final stage is tissue remodeling where the newly formed tissues expands into the dead space created by a wound which leads to the creation of scarring.

Wound closures hold both sides of a wound together to reduce the amount of dead space in the wound. The more dead space in the wound, the more space you have to create new scar tissue. When you create more scar tissue you will end up with a larger scar. The wound closure limits the amount of space for new scar tissue to grow into thus allowing the creation of new tissue and the remodeling of tissue to reattach the preexisting layers of tissue rather than creating a new mass of scar tissue.

The most common types of wound closure products are sutures, skin staples and skin closure tapes. Skin closure tapes are the least invasive of the three and they can typically be applied and reapplied at home where as sutures and skin staples need to be inserted and removed by a doctor. 3M’s Steri Strips are the most recognizable skin tape closure brand. 3M claims that their Steri Strips are primarily used on skin lacerations and surgical incisions as well as after skin staples and sutures have been removed to continue to support the wound.

Looking for more information?

Find more wound closure information from the University of Pennsylvania