A sterile device designed to apply continuous tension to an area of skin to stretch it to achieve a surplus of full thickness skin and subcutaneous tissue for the closure of a wound where the margins are too far apart for suturing, or prior to the surgical excision of a skin defect, or for the implantation of a prosthesis to provide additional skin for coverage; it may additionally be used for offloading sutures in closed wounds. It is typically available as automatic self-closing skin hooks, or a tension line inserted through skin hooks at the wound margins for constant or adjustable tension application. It may be used as an alternative to skin grafting. This is a single-use device.