Abstract
Purpose :
Ocular prosthetics greatly impact the quality of life for patients who have lost an eye. The prosthetic is important for maintaining orbital tissue space, improving patient confidence, and preventing social stigmatization. Currently, patients in resource-limited settings rely on low-quality stock prosthetics or clear conformers which often do not match their iris color and are poorly fitted. This has profound medical and psychosocial implications. The current production process employed by ocularists is time-consuming and requires tools that are not globally accessible. The single-use plaster mold and production time, which can take up to 8 hours for a single eye, are rate-limiting steps for scaling and availability. Here, we leverage 3D-printing to produce molds that can efficiently produce a large set of diverse, high-quality prosthetics allowing global ophthalmology groups to provide well-matched eyes for anophthalmic patients living in low-resource settings.
Methods :
A previously made prosthetic eye was laser scanned using a Quantum Max FaroArm (FARO, Lake Mary, FL) with a tolerance of 0.075mm. Computer aided design (CAD) software was used to design a three-part negative mold of the scanned prosthetic. The mold was 3D-printed using a Form 3B stereolithography printer with Tough 1500 resin (Formlabs, Somerville, MA). The 3D-printed mold was used by a team of board-certified ocularists to produce three prosthetics.
Results :
Using the 3D-printed mold, the average production time for a single prosthetic was decreased by 40±10%, including time required to create the impression of the orbit. The mold withstood the production of all three prosthetics without deformities. The prosthetic eyes made from the 3D-printed mold were qualitatively identical to eyes made using the traditional plaster mold, with an identical shape, matching iris color, and durable feel.
Conclusions :
The 3D-printed mold was reusable, unlike conventional plaster molds, and decreased the prosthetic production time. This manufacturing approach offers a unique alternative for ocularists to more efficiently generate high-volumes of high-quality prosthetics for distribution on global mission trips.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.