Wound opening in a thin incompressible viscoelastic tissue

TL;DR

This paper models the immediate mechanical response of a thin, incompressible viscoelastic tissue to wound infliction, highlighting how initial tension, elastic and viscous properties, and friction influence wound opening.

Contribution

It introduces an analytical and numerical model that characterizes the initial wound opening mechanics in viscoelastic tissues, emphasizing the role of a key dimensionless parameter.

Findings

Deformation regimes depend on a single parameter λ.

Initial wound opening is driven by tissue tension, elasticity, viscosity, and friction.

The model provides insights into the early mechanical behavior post-wound infliction.

Abstract

We develop a model to investigate analytically and numerically the mechanics of wound opening made in a viscoelastic, isotropic, homogeneous, and incompressive thin tissue. This process occurs just immediately after the wound infliction. Before any active biological action has taken place, the tissue relaxes, and the wound opens mostly due to the initial homeostatic tension of the tissue, its elastic and viscous properties, and the existing friction between the tissue and its substrate. We find that for a circular wound the regimes of deformation are defined by a single adimensional parameter $\lambda$, which characterizes the relative importance of viscosity over friction.