Using 3D Print Technology To Restore A Child’s Nose

[HardOCP News]

It was just over five years ago that the first commercially available 3D printer hit the market. Today, doctors can 3D print a nose for a disfigured child. Imagine where we will be by 2020.

“The procedure is akin to a ‘nose transplant’ in that we were able to replace the nose with a functional implant,” says lead physician Dr. Dagan. “This procedure may be a breakthrough in facial reconstruction because the patient will never have to deal with the standard issues of transplantation, such as tissue rejection or a lifetime of immunosuppressive therapies.”

 

[Solhokuten]

Great photo.

 

[infinite mind]

so there may be hope for those who always wanted a couple more inches

 

[DukenukemX]

I wonder why they didn't make him a new nose like this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...ht-years-treatment-cure-paralysis-failed.html

 

[Derkspector]

An extension for the ladies.....shawing.

 

[Konig-Wolf]

Stories like this are one of the few things that give me hope for the future.

 

[dr.kevin]

can't wait for the future. Gonna 3d print me a new face to replace my wrinkly one.

 

[DukenukemX]

Stories like this are one of the few things that give me hope for the future.

If you liked that, you'll love this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvMxPRqHkh0

 

[sleepeeg3]

What's the graft made out of? Plastic?

I know there have been other stories about growing organs on some dissolvable template. Seems like they could culture some of his own cells on something like that and transplant it. Maybe this is what they're doing, but it doesn't say.

 

[Merc1138]

What's the graft made out of? Plastic?

I know there have been other stories about growing organs on some dissolvable template. Seems like they could culture some of his own cells on something like that and transplant it. Maybe this is what they're doing, but it doesn't say.

Might have been a skin graft over a 3d printed object to replicate the cartilage structure of the nose? That's what the article seems to indicate they did when it mentions using tissue from his thigh and then reconstructed the skin over the implant.

It's not perfect, but it seems like this procedure may have been cheaper and a hell of a lot less surgically intensive(nevermind the wait time) of transplanting an entire nose grown on his forehead.

 

[zamaracrillio]

What will happen with the nose as the child grows? The implant size won't change.

 

[viscountalpha]

What will happen with the nose as the child grows? The implant size won't change.

This is the beauty of 3d printing. They can change the size and reprint it. If it gets lost? reprint. if it needs to change dimensions a bit? reprint.