This invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for tissue attachment, with one or more tissue layers being attached to bone or other tissue layers. There are multiple applications, including but not limited to dermatology/plastic surgery among others. The application specifically described in this disclosure is to move the skin and surrounding tissues, and fashion of the face or any other body part in relationship to the bone or cartilage structures below, thus effecting a “skin tightening” procedure.
The current standard facelift procedure (technically known as a rhytidectomy) involves the surgical removal of excess skin and tissue from the face and the redraping of the remaining skin on the face and neck. The procedure involves making an incision in front of the ear, which extends up into the hairline and wraps around the bottom of the ear and behind it, ending in the hairline on the back of the neck. After the incision is made, the skin is separated from the tissue underneath, the underlying tissue is sometimes tightened, and the skin is redraped, with the excess skin being removed.
The procedure is expensive, involves a long and painful recovery period, and is accompanied by complications such as infection, bleeding, and those which can accompany anesthesia. In addition, the visual outcome of the procedure can often look unnatural because large areas of tissue must be moved at once.
Efforts have been directed lately toward various techniques that involve fixation of skin through the use of resorbable tacks to effect facial rejuvenation. However, like a traditional facelift, the procedure still involves the use of incisions behind the hairline, requiring a substantial recovery period, and the procedure is only used to correct aging of the top third of the face. There is thus a need in dermatology and plastic surgery for a less invasive, less expensive method or reducing the appearance of wrinkles and excess skin on the face and other areas of the body.
Several embodiments are shown and described herein directed to percutaneously lifting, translating, and ‘tightening’ the skin, effecting a reduction in the appearance of wrinkles and excess skin on the face and other areas of the body. The method of the present invention enables a minimally invasive procedure for correcting aging of the face through “skin tightening.” The methods and devices are generally directed to accomplishing the steps of moving the soft tissue layer to a new position in relation to the bone or cartilage below; having a device which is either pushed or ballistically and dynamically driven into the deep layer through a superficial soft tissue layer, thereby holding the soft tissue layer in the new position in relation to the bone or cartilage through the use of anchors.
For example, one embodiment of the method of the invention involves using a delivery device that causes anchors to be impelled at high velocities into the deep layer such as bone whereby they are stopped after a certain distance by the hard layer and become firmly lodged in that layer. The delivery device may be a handheld resembling a pen that has energy capability to accelerate the anchor into the deeper tissues.
In another embodiment, the delivery device comprises an adhesive strip with anchors already lodged in the strip and spaced apart from one another. A practitioner may measure the length of adhesive strip needed, apply it directly to desired area of patient's skin, and accelerate the anchors into the tissue individually.
One aspect of the invention provides a method for relocating a skin layer relative to an adjacent bone layer comprising shifting a skin layer relative to an adjacent bone layer from an original position to a shifted position without cutting muscle or connective tissue associated with the skin layer; holding the skin layer in the shifted position while inserting a fastener through the skin layer into the bone layer to prevent the skin layer from reassuming the original position. One or more additional fasteners may be subsequently inserted through the skin layer into the bone layer.
One aspect of the invention includes inserting a fastener through the skin layer into the bone layer comprises inserting a fastener through the skin layer into the bone layer such that an outer-most feature of the fastener is located just below an outer surface of the skin layer.
Another aspect of the invention involves inserting a fastener through the skin layer comprises ballistically inserting a fastener through the skin layer. This may be accomplished by driving the fastener into the bone layer using a spring-loaded driving mechanism. Alternatively, driving the fastener into the bone layer may be done by using a compressed-gas driving mechanism.
One or more embodiments may include a fastener with an open hollow tip. The fastener may also have an anchoring feature proximate a distal end thereof for preventing the fastener from becoming dislodged from the bone layer.
The invention also provides a fastener for use in anchoring a skin layer in a shifted position to a bone layer thereby overcoming lateral and axial forces imparted by the skin layer on the fastener comprising at least one shaft having a distal end and a proximal end, the at least one shaft including: an anchoring feature proximate the distal end; and, a tissue-holding feature proximate the proximal end.
In one aspect, the fastener comprises a plurality of shafts and the tissue holding feature comprises at least one bridge connecting one of the plurality of shafts to another one of the plurality of shafts.
In another aspect, the aforementioned at least one shaft comprises a hollow portion that is open at the distal end.
In another aspect, the anchoring feature comprises at least one barb.
In another aspect, the fastener comprises a bioabsorbable material.
In another aspect, the tissue holding feature comprises at least one protrusion that extends radially from a longitudinal axis of the shaft when the fastener is driven into the bone layer.
In another aspect the fastener includes a stop that limits a depth that the fastener can be driven into the bone layer.
The shaft of one or more of the fasteners of the invention may have a shaft that comprises a hollow portion that is open at the distal end and the stop comprises a closed proximal end of the hollow portion.
The invention also includes device for use in anchoring a skin layer in a shifted position to a bone layer thereby overcoming lateral and axial forces imparted by the skin layer on the fastener comprising at least one shaft having a distal end and a proximal end comprising: a delivery mechanism; and, at least one fastener; the delivery mechanism including: a barrel; a driving mechanism that drives the at least one mechanism out of a distal end of the barrel; the at least one fastener including at least one shaft having: an anchoring feature proximate the distal end; and, a tissue holding feature proximate the proximal end.
The delivery mechanism may further include a cartridge containing a plurality of the fasteners.
The driving mechanism may comprise a spring; a piston driven by the spring and having a distal end that transfers an axial force released by the spring onto a proximal end of the fastener; a triggering mechanism for releasing energy stored in the spring.
The driving mechanism may also comprise: a capsule containing pressurized gas; a piston driven by the pressurized gas and having a distal end that transfers an axial force onto a proximal end of the fastener; and a triggering mechanism for releasing the axial force stored in the spring.
These and other aspects, features and advantages of which embodiments of the invention are capable of will be apparent and elucidated from the following description of embodiments of the present invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. The terminology used in the detailed description of the embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings is not intended to be limiting of the invention. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements.
Referring now to the figures,
In order to prevent the return of the skin layer 1 to its original position relative to the bone or cartilage layer 2 of
The method described above and shown in
In one embodiment of the method of the present invention, extremely small, short and shallow incisions may be made at the site where the fastener 10 is being driven such that the head or top of the fastener rests just below the surface of the skin such that the fastener remains hidden. These incisions are so small that often no bleeding occurs. Positive results have been attained with incisions that are no longer than 0.05 inches.
In order to accommodate the insertion of several fasteners 10, various delivery mechanisms are described below, some of which allow the delivery of rapidly successive fasteners, in the spirit of tools found in carpentry, such as nail guns, staple guns, and the like. Other delivery mechanism described below allow for the delivery of several fasteners simultaneously.
The bone layer 2 includes the bone 6 and a periosteum 7. It can be seen in
Fasteners
Turning now to the fasteners 10 of the invention, the fasteners 10 may take one of many possible forms. Generally, they may be circular, flat, or any other configuration geometrically that allows them to penetrate the bone or cartilage with a sharpened distal end. The device may be textured on the surface, for example with a micro-texturing that allows cells to more easily attach and anchors the device permanently in the bone or cartilage. The anchors may be metallic or they may be polymeric. They may be a combination of metal and polymer. The polymer may be biostable or bioabsorbable. It may contain drugs for elution. The anchors may be electrically conductive and may permit electrical energy for either energy delivery or energy recording of biologic signals. Examples of embodiments having various characteristics are shown in the Figures and are not meant to be limiting. It is to be understood that any of the characteristics may be incorporated into any of the embodiments of the invention.
Generally, the fasteners include at least one shaft that includes an anchoring feature proximate the distal end of the shaft and a tissue-holding feature proximate the proximal end of the shaft. A first embodiment 20 of a fastener 10 is shown in
The slots 70 may be actively flared in a subsequent step, however, it is envisioned that such slots 70 may be advantageously paired with one or more of the ballisitic delivery device embodiments, described below. When the device 10 is driven into the bone layer, there is substantial compression on the device that causes the precut slots 70 to expand radially, markedly increasing the cross-sectional area of a small section of the anchor. When placed appropriately, this expanding tissue-holding concept will serve to grasp the soft tissue ends spreading the stress and strain on the tissue out over a larger area to prevent laceration. It will serve as a larger tissue-holding feature for the soft tissue because its surface area in contact with the soft tissue is substantially increased.
The resulting arms formed by the slots may be retractable in the event that the operator is unhappy or unsatisfied with placement, and re-deployed for better configurations and results. Additionally, the above describes only two locations on the anchor where the “stop” components are placed, but multiple other locations may be made as well to further anchor in the soft tissue.
The distal tip 104 of fastener 100 is also sharpened. However, rather than being sharpened at an angle like fastener 90, the distal tip 104 of fastener 100 is sharpened circumferentially to form a beveled edge. It has been found that a tip sharpened this way penetrates bone more easily, possibly due to the cancelation of all side forces resulting from the angled surfaces. Additionally, the angled tip of fastener 90 has a rapidly-increasing surface area as it is being driven into bone. The beveled tip, on the other hand, as a relatively constant surface area contacting the bone as it is being driven. Experimentation has shown that holding all other variables constant, driving 5 mm long fasteners with angled tips into a bone layer with a constant driving force resulted in a driving depth of 2-3 mm. When driving 5 mm fasteners with beveled tips using the same driving force, the driving depth was approximately 4 mm.
It must be emphasized that any of the features described herein with regard to one embodiment may be combined with any of the features of the other embodiments.
Delivery Devices
The barrel 310 may have a sharp tip for making a small incision in the outermost surface of the skin in order to countersink the fastener 10. The barrel also has an interior lumen sized to carry a fastener 10. The magazine 320 may comprise the interior lumen, or may be in the form of a magazine cartridge 322, attachable to the device 300.
The driving mechanism 340 may take on various forms but all are designed to impart an axial force onto the fastener 10. Driving forces that may be useful include pneumatic, spring, electromagnetic, compressed gas such as carbon dioxide, acoustic, ultrasonic, hydraulic impulsion, and the like.
The trigger mechanism 330 is a mechanism used to release or activate the driving force. The release mechanism may be a push button, such as that shown in
A more detailed delivery device embodiment 350 is shown in
In operation, the operator loads a fastener into a lumen of the barrel 360. Alternatively, the fastener is pre-loaded or a magazine is provided with a plurality of fasteners loaded therein. The operator then pulls the proximal end 378 of the piston 376 in a proximal direction. This stretches or compresses the spring 372, depending on how the spring is loaded into the device, providing potential energy for driving the piston 376. The piston 376 is pulled until the catch 382 of the trigger mechanism 380 pivots into an interference position with the distal end of the piston. The delivery device 350 is now loaded and cocked. The operator now gently pulls the skin of a patient or procedure recipient into a desired position, thus shifting the skin layer relative to the bone layer, and holds the skin in the shifted position with his or her finger. The barrel 360 is then pointed at a target site, possibly breaking the skin slightly, and the trigger mechanism 380 is depressed, which pivots the catch 382 out of the interference position, releasing the piston 376. The spring 372 releases its stored energy, and drives the piston axially into a proximal end of a fastener 10, driving the fastener 10 into a bone layer.
Another embodiment 400 of a delivery device is shown in
Using the delivery device 400 involves cutting a desired size and shape of the substrate appropriate for the placement of the anchors 10. The targeted skin is appropriately numbed and the substrate 400 is placed on the skin. The adhesive ensures that the substrate will not become accidentally relocated prior to the implantation of the anchors 10. The skin is then shifted to a desired new location and a rubber mallet, or the like, is used to gently tap the anchors 10 into place. Because the anchors 10 are very small, each blow of the mallet contacts several, if not all of the anchors 10, thus requiring few blows. After the anchors 10 are embedded, the substrate 400 is simply peeled away from the patient, leaving the anchors 10 in place.
Although the invention has been described in terms of particular embodiments and applications, one of ordinary skill in the art, in light of this teaching, can generate additional embodiments and modifications without departing from the spirit of or exceeding the scope of the claimed invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the drawings and descriptions herein are proffered by way of example to facilitate comprehension of the invention and should not be construed to limit the scope thereof.
This application is a divisional of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/961,785 filed Aug. 7, 2013 entitled Tissue Attachment Device And Method, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/680,663 filed Aug. 7, 2012 entitled Tissue Attachment Device And Method, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61680663 | Aug 2012 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13961785 | Aug 2013 | US |
Child | 14941429 | US |