A British man has become the first patient in the world to be fitted with a 3D printed eye, according to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
Steve Verze, who is 47 and an engineer from Hackney, east London, was given the left eye on Thursday and first tried it for size earlier this month.Moorfields Eye Hospital said in a press release Thursday that the prosthetic is the first fully digital prosthetic eye created for a patient.The eye is more realistic than other alternatives, and is designed to have"clearer definition and real depth to the pupil," the hospital said.
Potential to cut waiting times 'in half'The 3D image was then sent to Germany to be printed before being shipped back to the UK, where it was finished and polished by a Moorfields Eye Hospital ocularist."I've needed a prosthetic since I was 20, and I've always felt self conscious about it," Verze was quoted as saying in the press release."When I leave my home I often take a second glance in the mirror, and I've not liked what I've seen.