Finite element analysis of biomechanical interactions of a subcutaneous suspension suture and human face soft-tissue: a cadaver study

In order to study the local interactions between facial soft-tissues and a Silhouette Soft(®) suspension suture, a CE marked medical device designed for the repositioning of soft tissues in the face and the neck, Finite element simulations were run, in which a model of the suture was embedded in a three-layer Finite Element structure that accounts for the local mechanical organization of human facial soft tissues. A 2D axisymmetric model of the local interactions was designed in ANSYS, in which the geometry of the tissue, the boundary conditions and the applied loadings were considered to locally mimic those of human face soft tissue constrained by the suture in facial tissue repositioning. The Silhouette Soft suture is composed of a knotted thread and sliding cones that are anchored in the tissue. Hence, simulating these interactions requires special attention for an accurate modelling of contact mechanics. As tissue is modelled as a hyper-elastic material, the displacement of the facial soft tissue changes in a nonlinear way with the intensity of stress induced by the suture and the number of the cones. Our simulations show that for a 4-cone suture a displacement of 4.35 mm for a 2.0 N external loading and of 7.6 mm for 4.0 N. Increasing the number of cones led to the decrease in the equivalent local strain (around 20%) and stress (around 60%) applied to the tissue. The simulated displacements are in general agreement with experimental observations.