Fig. 2

TD and EQV of the skin envelope and major landmarks consequent to the closure of cleft lip. The magnitudes of two opposite forces at both sides of the cleft were as the same to generate the TD. The whole process of force loading was demonstrated on the left, from top to bottom respectively in 0 N, 2 N, 4 N and 4,4 N which closed the cleft exactly. A, B, C The vectors of TD on Path one; a, b, c The vectors of TD on Path two; D The TD on Path one; E The EQV on Path one; d The TD on Path two; e The EQV on Path two. Path one was defined by the alar bases at both sides (Landmarks one, five), the alar domes at both sides (Landmark two, four) and the nasal tip (Landmark three); Path two was defined by the columella base (Landmark one), the nasal tip (Landmark two), the dorsum (Landmark three) and the nasal radix (Landmark four). The grey shadow represented the pre-simulation position of the model. TD, total deformation; EQV, equivalent von-mises stress