Device for extending living tissues

A device for permanently stretching a selected area of skin tissue, said skin tissue having an underneath side formed of one of a galea and hypoderma region and an outer surface comprising:

• an integrally formed support plate having first and second ends and a mid-section therebetween and made from a semi-rigid biocompatible material;
• at least two resilient means for placing skin tissue under a continuous tensile stretching force, each of the resilient means having a fixed end and a free end, each of the fixed ends of the resilient means respectively fixed to one of the ends of the support plate, each of the resilient means having a pre-biased resting length and a biased extended length, each of the resilient means being biased by displacement of the free end toward the end of the support plate opposite that resilient means fixed end;
• at least two fastening means for securing skin tissue to the resilient means without sutures, each of the respective fastening means being attached to a respective free end of the resilient means and each of the fastening means adapted to be fixedly located along a respective region of skin tissue thereby defining respective lines of traction, wherein skin tissue to be stretched within each region is laterally outward of each of said lines of traction, said skin tissue regions opposed to each other and separated by an extent of skin tissue that is not to be stretched;
• the mid-section of said support plate corresponding to the pre-biased resting length for each of the free ends of the resilient means when each of the resilient means are respectively at a pre-biased resting position, each of the resilient means disposed closely along a surface of the plate;
• the plate adapted to be deformed into a contour matching underlying coextensive tissue underneath the skin tissue and being stationary relative to the underlying tissue when the device is implanted and operable under the skin tissue, the resilient means guides along the contour of the plate to closely follow the shape of the underlying coextensive tissue,
• wherein each of the fastening means grip the skin tissue from said underneath side thereof and along a respective line of traction without extending through said outer surface of the skin tissue, each of the resilient means being at a biased extended position when initially fastened to said skin tissue and continuously exerting a force on the fastening means thereafter, thereby urging the lines of traction toward each other while stretching the skin tissue which lies outward of said lines of traction, until each of the resilient means returns to its respective pre-biased resting position, said skin tissue between the lines of traction being left unstretched.