Graphical 3D Printing: Challenges, Solutions and Applications

Graphical 3D printing is a relatively novel field of 3D printing focusing on reproducing the visual material appearance of an object in addition to its shape. Applications can be found in traditional prototyping, patient-individual surgery planning, fabricating prosthetic eyes, movie and entertainment industry as well as creating replicas in the field of cultural heritage. This paper gives a rough overview on the major challenges as well as solutions in graphical 3D printing focusing on imaging and computational aspects. It also gives an outlook to future research directions and new applications.

Prevalence of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction and Its Effect on Quality of Life and Ocular Discomfort in Patients with Prosthetic Eyes

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of ocular discomfort and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) on quality of life in patients with an ocular prosthesis. Methods: a prospective analysis was conducted on 18 patients with a unilateral ocular prosthesis. Evaluation of ocular discomfort symptoms, lid margin abnormalities (LMA), meibomian gland expression, meibography and a psychometric evaluation using the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ), Facial Appearance subscale of the Negative Physical Self Scale (NPSS-F), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the DAS24 to evaluate anxiety and depression. Results: the statistically significant differences observed between normal and prosthetic eyes related to ocular symptoms and the meibography score (p = 0.0003). A negative correlation was reported between NEI VFQ score and meibography score (r = −0.509; p-value = 0.022). A positive correlation was detected with NPSS (r = 0.75; p-value < 0.0001), anxiety HADS score (r = 0.912; p-value = 0.001) and depression HADS score (r = 0.870; p-value > 0.0001). Conclusion: MGD represents the most common cause of evaporative dry eye disease, due to the reduction of the thickness of the lipid layer of the tear film. The occurrence of MGD in patients with prosthetic eyes is very common. Anxiety and depression were correlated to ocular discomfort and MGD, and this could affect the quality of life in patients with an ocular prosthesis.

Customized Liquid Ocular Prosthesis for Anophthalmic Patients suffering from Dry Eye: A Clinical Research

ABSTRACT Problem Prosthetic eyes often cause dryness, irritation, and inflammation of the anophthalmic sockets. Purpose To reduce the discomfort caused due to dryness of ocular prosthesis by a custom-made hollow ocular acrylic prosthesis, which is filled with lubricant drops slowly and systemically released into the ophthalmic cavity upon blinking. Materials and methods Thirty-eight patients wearing unilateral artificial eye for a period of more than 6 months were evaluated. An innovative customized hollow prosthesis is described, which was incorporated with a hollow reservoir containing a combination of a tear substitute along with cyclosporine A (0.05%) acting as the lubricant. The patients were then evaluated with the help of a questionnaire, regarding the comfort, dryness, soreness, and the ease of use of prosthesis. A self-formulated grading system was used to record the scores. Results Postinsertion of this hollow prosthesis, there was a marked reduction in the dryness, irritation, discomfort, and signs of inflammation. Conclusion It was concluded that the continuous flow of the lubricant onto the dry prosthetic eye helps in reducing dryness, irritation, soreness, and inflammation. Clinical implications A hollow ocular prosthesis that can continuously discharge lubricant onto the dry prosthesis can help in increasing patient's acceptance and comfort. How to cite this article Gupta R, Aggarwal R, Bharat A, Nijhawan S. Customized Liquid Ocular Prosthesis for Anophthalmic Patients suffering from Dry Eye: A Clinical Research. Int J Prosthodont Restor Dent 2016;6(3):57-62.