Prosthetic Eye

[eyeandthebeholder]

Does anyone have any information regarding the printing of glass eyes that match the Iris of the person it's being printed for?
They need to be visually identical. They will not need to be modified later, they will not be inserted into the persons eye cavity.
I'm very new to this, but I'm working on a project that is very important to me so if you can help I would be really appreciative.

[curious aardvark]

can't be done.

You don't 3d print glass - well at least not at the moment.

The only thing around that I know of is printing with material containing glass powder and then sintering that, which burns off the carrier material leaving behind the bonded glass.

What you want is someone who makes glass paper weights.
They could easily reproduce eyes in glass.

You can print with resin clear enough for optics - but as far as I know there are currently no full colour resin printers on the market - quite probably something under development. But certainly nothing commercially available.

[eyeandthebeholder]

https://3dprint.com/203581/3d-printed-eye-prosthesis/

[curious aardvark]

Additive technology PolyJet and 3D printer Stratasys J750 was used for production. Printed core was covered with biocompatible material to create biocompatible surface.

so he used about $250,000 worth of printers and at the time of the article he had NOT coated it with a biocompatible layer.
So after all that - it wasn't even useable.

This is not
1) mainstream
2) actually available to buy
3) possible to do yourself
4) actually made of glass

There is a good chance that in the near future someone will make a machine that can make these in a single process.
But at the moment - no such machine exists.

Glass and a good artist is still your best and cheapest option.

[airscapes]

I think If I ever lost an eye, after getting over the loose, I would want a couple different eyes.. One that matched and a couple others... Like one with a goat eye iris, one all red with a white X .. and one that is completely black, you know, to freak out store clerks and little kids! :-)

[curious aardvark]

on with a built in laser pointer would be cool. Particularly if you still had working eye muscles and could actually aim it by looking at something.