According to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, a British man has become the world’s first patient to be fitted with a 3D printed eye.
Steve Verze, a 47-year-old engineer from Hackney, east London, received the left eye on Thursday and tried it on earlier this month for sizing.
According to a news statement issued by Moorfields Eye Hospital on Thursday, the prosthetic is the first digital prosthetic eye made for a patient.
The eye is more lifelike than other options, with “clearer definition and true depth to the pupil,” according to the hospital. An iris is hand-painted onto a disc and then inserted into the eye socket in other prosthetic eyes.
However, according to the hospital, their shape prevents light from reaching the “whole depth” of the eye.
In addition to seeming more lifelike, the treatment is thought to be less intrusive.
Traditional prosthetic eye development necessitates the creation of a mold of the eye socket, whereas 3D prosthetic eye development scans the socket digitally to provide a detailed image.
Verze’s functional eye was scanned as well to check that both eyes were identical. The 3D picture was then printed in Germany before being returned to the UK to be completed and polished by a Moorfields Eye Hospital ocularist.
Verze was reported in the press release as saying, “I’ve required a prosthetic since I was 20, and I’ve always felt self-conscious about it.” According to Moorfields Eye Hospital, 3D printing has the potential to shorten the time it takes to produce a prosthetic eye in half, from six to two or three weeks.
According to CNN, a clinical trial involving more patients will begin soon.
Professor Mandeep Sagoo, clinical lead for the project at Moorfields Eye Hospital and professor of ophthalmology and ocular oncology at University College London, expressed his enthusiasm for the novel development process in a statement. “We hope the forthcoming clinical trial will provide us with rigorous proof about the value of this novel technology, revealing what a difference it makes for patients,” Sagoo stated ahead of the eye’s fitting.
