A novel, efficient 3D-printing based manufacturing process for custom ocular prostheses

Ocular prostheses are part of a substantial global market for ocular implants. However, demand for custom ocular prostheses (COPs) can outpace supply at clinics due to the slow pace of prosthesis manufacturing and limited supply of ocularists, particularly in emerging markets such as India. Existing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2019 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) Vol. 2019; pp. 3734 - 3737
Main Authors Beiruti, Sally, Le Henaff, Anne-Claire, Chandar, Arjun, Zhang, Zhengyang, Gee, Kaitlyn, Narain, Jaya, Jones, Alexus, Winter, Amos
Format Conference Proceeding Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States IEEE 01.07.2019
Subjects
Coatings
Manufacturing processes
Prosthetics
Sockets
Surface treatment
Three-dimensional displays
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Summary:Ocular prostheses are part of a substantial global market for ocular implants. However, demand for custom ocular prostheses (COPs) can outpace supply at clinics due to the slow pace of prosthesis manufacturing and limited supply of ocularists, particularly in emerging markets such as India. Existing manufacturing methods for COPs involve multiple stages of casting and molds with limited quality control, resulting in time-intensive trial and error with patients to achieve a comfortable fit. Through collaboration with the LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in India, the authors improved manufacturing process efficiency for COPs and without significantly increasing cost or decreasing customizability. A time study of the current process showed that no single step was a dominant contributor to process time, necessitating a holistic change to the manufacturing process. The modified process uses dip coating of a 3D printed internal body made from a scanned impression. Based on a timed experimental trial, the modified process has a projected daily COP production rate increase of 100% compared to the existing process. A study of produced COP quality showed accumulated error of critical dimensions within reasonable limits, with the greatest error being less than 65% of maximum acceptable error.Note: no experiments on human or animal subjects were carried out in the writing of this paper.
ISSN:1557-170X
1558-4615
DOI:10.1109/EMBC.2019.8856766