Design and production of eye prosthesis using 3D printing

Abstract

The paper deals with the production of a prototype of aesthetic eye prosthesis using procedures related to reverse engineering technology. Due to the complexity of the prosthesis shape, the 3D model was obtained by scanning a hand-made acrylic prosthesis on the ATOS Compact Scan. Following the pattern of manual production, the model geometry underwent a modification in 3ds Max software, where a planar surface was created in the selected area for the iris texture. By this shape change, the core of the prosthesis prototype was created. Using the UV mapping, the texture of the iris was placed on the surface of the model, which was obtained by modifying a photo from a slit camera. The core of the prosthesis prototype was printed on a full-color 3D printer Stratasys J750, which uses additive PolyJet technology based on the curing of photopolymers. In order to form a biocompatible surface, the printed core was embedded in a clear acrylate in a mold made using an original acrylate prosthesis. The paper concludes with an overall evaluation of the achieved results with a description of problematic production steps and a proposal for a procedure for the future production of prostheses by 3D printing.