This is the first owner of a 3D printed prosthetic eye. 3D printing can be of great help in this area.
When the first prostheses hit the market, they weren’t specifically designed to look exactly like a human limb or organ. In most cases, they were made functional, which is quite logical. However, over time they become more and more realistic, some of them include so much technology that they can offer their owner some very human features.
Here is the first owner of a 3D printed prosthetic eye
Today in the UK, an engineer named Steve Verse from Hackney, east London, has become the first person in the world to receive a 3D printed prosthetic eye. As you can see in the photo above, it is not clear which eye is prosthetic and which is real. This feat is made possible by 3D printing, which gives the product an ultra-realistic look and adds a certain “depth” to the pupil.
This prosthesis goes much further than the ocular prostheses that exist so far, which are most often hand-painted and never look much like the real eye of the person who needs it. And it takes about six weeks to make such a prosthesis. On the other hand, the procedure is quite invasive. There, with 3D printing, all this is no longer justified.
3D printing can be of great help in this area.
Not only can 3D printing help create a lifelike prosthesis in just a few hours, the technology can also be used to scan the orbit and therefore provide a much better prosthesis for a less invasive procedure. Putting it all together, this false eye will be ready in just two to three weeks, which is twice as fast as traditional ocular prostheses.
According to Prof. Mandeep Sagu, Consultant Ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital and Professor of Ophthalmology at the NIHR Center for Biomedical Research at Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology: changes it can have for patients. Obviously, this can significantly reduce queues.”