A two-year-old born without a nose has become the first person to have a 3D printed cosmetic nasal implant fitted to help create the missing appendage.

MirrorMe3D has teamed with Crisalix to allow doctors to generate 3D models of their pre-operative cosmetic surgery patents and then have them printed out. 

Dr. Sathish Vasishta, a craniomaxillofacial surgeon, and Dr. Derick Mendonca, a consulting plastic surgeon, used a 3D printed model provided by Osteo3D, a Bangalore, India-based company backed by the df3d design factory, to successfully plan and perform an Orbital Hupertelorism surgical procedure at Sakra Hospital in Bangalore.

Tyler and Tyson were two twins sharing chest, abdomen and a liver creating difficulties for their surgical separation. However, using 3D Printing technology, surgeons at Children's National Medical Center in Washington created models and were able to visualize the whole operation before the actual surgery, thereby leading a successful surgery.

Korean Central Television (KCTV) recently revealed some footages that showed Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, North Korea, giving demonstration of their own 3D printer to reporters, with the statement that it can print bone for dental and cosmetic surgery procedures. Apart from that, KCTV showed two documents they stated were a “patent of certification” and a certification of assessment from the “intellectual products exhibition”.

Researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) are working on improving the Rhinoplasty, a surgery of nose resconstruction, with the help of 3D Printing. Using the facial editing software to plan the surgery, and then converiting it to files for modeling and 3D Printing, followed by filling of hydrogel with patient’s cells and injecting into 3D Printed nasal implant. This whole process offers advantages such as shorter, comfortable and streamlined procedure with much accuracy in hand.

A Team of Researchers at the University of Toronto (UoT) and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre unveiled a handheld 3D Skin Printer that dispenses Bioink composed of Mesenchymal Stromal cells to place skin over Severe Burns and during Surgeries. It can also cover Split Thickness Burns, and the current prototype includes a single-use microfluidic printhead to ensure sterilization and a soft wheel that follows the track of the printhead, allowing for better control for wider wounds. Enzymatically and thermally gelled fibrin and collagen biomaterials are used to finish up the Skin 3D Printing and Layering.

A team of Researchers in Costa Rica worked on a 3D Printed Medical Device that can be used to Suture skin uniformly and quickly with the scar left behind being aesthetically acceptable. The Class 2 FDA Electronic Medical Device was created using SOLIDWORKS Software based on three functions: Stabilize the skin, Rotate the needle on its axis to join tissue sections and Initiate and finish with the least possible amount of user interference. The first prototype was 3D Printed using Polyjet technology and AISI 316L alloy. Upon further surveys, they modified the final prototype to “improve its ergonomic factor” by adding a holder at the top of the shell for more stability and easier manipulation.