Could 3D printing be the future of your ocular prosthesis? Since its introduction in the 1980’s, 3 dimensional printing has grown exponentially. From starting out printing such things as shoes, vases, and toys; this practice has advanced to now developing human organs used for transplants. We have also seen these advancements in the global prostheses market. Examples of these vary from digitally printed irises, to fully produced eyes. Iris examples that have been produced have shown a variance of hues that are slight enough to achieve a “good match”. Fully produced prosthetics are currently being produced in batches that are sized as small, medium, and large. One of the downsides to this is that they would not properly fit the socket and have a high rate of retention problems similar to the mass produced stock eyes of many years ago. By taking an impression we are able to achieve the maximum amount of motility allowed by each individual socket.

Although we feel the modified impression method is still the best way to currently fit your prosthetic, we are exited about the future of 3D printed artificial eyes, and we will continue to research and test all the possible uses. Our philosophy has always been that we never want to change our process to save time or money, unless the quality of the product can be as good or better than our current process.