Researchers from the University of Miami reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology that they have developed a fast and inexpensive way to make facial prostheses for eye cancer patients using facial scanning software and 3D printing. Their process can create more affordable prosthetics for any patients who have hollow sockets resulting from eye surgery following cancer or congenital deformities, they say.
Conventional facial prostheses can cost $10,000 to $15,000 and take weeks to produce. Each one is created by an ocularist, an artisan who makes a mold of the face, casts it using rubber and then adds the final touches such as skin color and individual eyelashes. Patients and their families often have to pay out-of-pocket for facial prostheses because many times health insurance will not cover the cost.
The team of researchers used topographical scanning and 3D printing technology, scanning the undamaged side of the patient’s face using a mobile scanner. The software then creates a mirror image. Along with a scan of the side of the face with the orbital defect, the program can mesh the two scans together to create a 3D image of the face. The topographical information then goes to a 3D printer, which translates the data into a mask formed out of injection-molded rubber suffused with colored pigments matching the patient’s skin tone.
The 3D printed prosthesis has several advantages over a conventional one since the material involves a proprietary mix of nanoparticles that provides extra reinforcement and makes it possible to match many shades of skin. If the prosthesis ever needs to be replaced, it can be done very quickly as well, since once a patient is scanned, the researchers have the mold, and can create a new prosthesis without delay.
