Quote Originally Posted by JamesFromBywong View Post
When the eye is removed (enucleation), it is replaced by a coral ball about 25mm in diameter to which the muscles that move the eye are attached. The skin (I think from the back of the eye) is pulled to the front and sewn over the coral ball.......The prosthesis fits over the skin covering the coral ball and moves with it.............The prosthesis is made by taking a mould of the socket using a paste in the same way that moulds were made for false teeth. A wax model is then made and fitted so that the eyelid closes and the eye bulges in the normal way. The coloured part is painted by hand on a small round piece of (I think) acrylic...........The final prosthesis is made from acrylic by (I think) moulding..........

I haven't met the doctor who specializes in this, but what you just wrote matches what I expect to be told. My problem is how to define the information from the socket, getting the data either from the socket, or from a mold of the socket. Apparently that needs to be scanned, and I am trying to find information on how to scan a surface, so a 3D printer can use that information and create a matching part.

Thanks for replying.... I am going to see another 3D printer this morning - never have seen one yet - and will then get back to searching for scanning software. (The other parts of the process, painting, sealing the part, etc., are already being done. I can post photos here if anyone wants to see them. The people who do this work at the hospital in India are very skilled, and work quickly, and the end result looks quite "real". But I can't move forward until I learn how to replace the molding process with a scan, converting the surface into data that the 3D printer can use...