STIV Varz (40) of Great Britain is the first person in the world to have an eye prosthesis printed on a 3D printer.
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Verz, who hails from east London, was operated on at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
The new eye prosthesis he received is designed to look a lot more realistic than the one made from acrylic.
Also, thanks to the new technology, the time it takes for patients to wait for a prosthesis has been significantly reduced.
Earlier the prosthesis used to be waited for six weeks and now the whole process can be completed in 14 days.
– I’ve had a prosthetic eye since I was twenty and I’ve always known about it. When I leave the house, I often look in the mirror and I don’t like what I see. This new eye looks fantastic and since it was made using 3D printing technology, it will only get better in the future, reports the BBC, Steve Verges.
The installation of a classic prosthesis takes about two hours, and then the patient wears a bandage until the eye lies down properly, then the eye is dyed.
The hospital says eye prostheses printed on a 3D printer reduce production time to two to three weeks, and installation takes about half an hour.
Ophthalmology consultant Professor Mandeep Sagu says that the hospital staff were excited about the procedure.
We hope that future trials will prove just how important the new technology is and how much of a difference it makes to patients. It is clear that the waiting list will be reduced, he said.
According to WHO, around 285 million people in the world suffer from visual impairment, while 39 million are completely blind.
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