Sutureless closure for a skin wound or incision

A sutureless closure for a generally elongate wound or incision comprising:

• first and second strips of adhesive tape each being adapted to adhere to a person's skin adjacent the lengthwise extending edges of the wound with the longitudinal axes thereof oriented substantially normal to the wound;
• a third strip of tape having a plurality of filaments coupled thereto at spaced intervals along one end of said third strip, said filaments being also coupled to an end of said first tape;
• a fourth strip of tape having a plurality of filaments coupled thereto at spaced intervals along one end of said fourth strip, said fourth strip filaments being also coupled to an end of said second tape, said third and fourth tapes each being adapted to adhere to the exposed surface of said first and second tapes with the longitudinal axes thereof oriented substantially normal to the wound so that the filaments tensioned between said tapes draw the edges of the wound together;
• a first elongate protective strip for covering the adhesive on said first and fourth tapes;
• and
• a second elongate protective strip for covering the adhesive on said second and third tapes, said strips preventing said adhesive from sticking prior to use of said closure, said protective strips each including a pair of transverse creases to permit each of the adhesive tapes which the protective strip covers to be covered by the same side of said strip.

A method for closing a generally elongate wound or incision comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of hooks adjacent the lengthwise extending edges of the wound;
• wrapping a filament around opposing hooks;
• placing the filament under tension thereby drawing the edges of said wound together;
• wrapping a second filament around different opposing hooks;
• and
• placing the second filament under tension different from the tension in the other filament thereby drawing the edges of said wound together.