Jul 10, 2018 | By Thomas
Severance Hospital of the Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) announced Monday that it is getting ready to commercialize Korea’s first 3D printed artificial eye.
After three years of research, the team, led by Professor Yoon Jin-sook of the department of ophthalmology at the hospital and artificial eye maker Baik Seung-woon, have successfully develop a technology that uses 3D printers to simplify the production process for an artificial eye.
“We want to help patients who need artificial eyes with our 3D printing technology,” said Professor Yoon.
Professor Yoon Jin-sook
The technology has been supported by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT, as part of the Ministry’s initiative “Next Generation New Concept Medical Device Development Technology Project.” In March the YUHS team partnered with Carima, a local company specializing in Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printer to integrate 3D printers into the production of the artificial eye. After completing the phase 1 of the “Artificial Eye Project,” the team has renewed its agreement for the phase 2 - the commercialization process.
Based on the agreement, Professor Yoon’s team will test the safety and validity of their artificial eye prototypes and the test is scheduled to be completed by 2020. Furthermore, The Severance team and Camira plan to establish a remote consultation network system that can provide artificial eyes to patients in various regions and countries, and create a one-stop platform that can manage consulting, design, production and delivery.
Yoon's team has also registered a patent regarding the technology in China in December last year.
“Our team plans provide top-notch public health services through high-quality artificial eyes and a network that can increase patient access," said Professor Yoon.
Approximately 60,000 patients in Korea require an artificial eye, however, only 40,000 have access to such products.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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This article is a bit confusing and needs some clarification: Are these eyes functional? or are these the prosthetics more commonly known as "glass eyes"?