3-D Printing Taking Next Step Into Field of Medicine

As the twenty-first century has unfolded, 3-D printing has become one of the most exciting and awe-inspiring technologies to have been invented so far. The ability to create objects from these devices can solve problems ranging from world poverty to printing a chair. This new technology is spreading its wings and now entering the field of medicine, where it has already made an impact on a large scale. It has already produced cheap prosthetic limbs to war victims in Sudan through American Mike Ebeling's organization  "Project Daniel" named after Daniel Omar who was injured in a Bomb explosion in his home village in Sudan. These first forays into medicine show the potential that 3-D printing has and how it could change our lives in the future.

Scientists have now discovered that they will be able to "print" various parts of the human body including: limbs, bones, synthetic skin, noses, ears, and eyes using materials such as thermoplastics. An amazing application of this invention is being worked on at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. At the school they are developing a printer that will print skin straight onto the wounds of burn victims (shown below). This is incredible that there will be a device that, one day, could create skin on sight in a crisis situation better than the best skin graft surgery done today. It will be easier for burn victims to move on from their terrifying ordeal if they are not staring at a reminder in the mirror everyday.

Other uses for 3-D printing in the field of medicine will be creating artificial eyes, noses, and ears that look like authentic body parts. These new plastic surgeries will revolutionize the world of prostheses. The biggest appeal of these new developments is that after they're ordered, replacements can be re-ordered at a fraction of the cost. Also the simple process of scanning a patient's face is more patient-friendly than the current invasive mold process. The most amazing part of all of this is that this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the future development of 3-D printing goes. Throughout all industries, 3-D printing is going to revolutionize the way we produce goods, objects , tools and will change the way we do business from the ground up.