3D printer helps reconstruct man's face after motorcycle accident

A team from Wales developed and used a 3D printer to reconstruct a man's face after a motorcycle accident.

The victim, Stephen Power, crashed his motorcycle in 2012, and even though he was wearing a helmet, he experienced multiple trauma injuries. It broke his cheekbones, top jaw, nose and skull, forcing him to wear a hat and sunglasses to disguise his asymmetrical face. He was in the hospital for four months after that - not that he remembers.

"I can't remember the accident - I remember five minutes before and then waking up in the hospital a few months later," he told BBC News.

Power, 27, underwent surgery at Morriston Hospital in Swansea to restore his appearance. Doctors first had to break his cheekbones before starting the reconstruction process.

The surgical team used CT scans to create and print a symmetrical 3D model of his skull, followed by cutting guides and plates printed to match.

Maxillofacial surgeon Adrian Sugar, who led the project, notes that this type of 3D technology is the first of its kind.

"What this does is it allows us to be much more precise. Everybody now is starting to think in this way - guesswork is not good enough," Sugar said.

The surgery lasted eight hours, and to keep the bones in their new symmetrical shape, the team used a medical-grade titanium implant, printed in Belgium.

Power, from Cardiff, said he noticed a difference right away, calling the innovation "totally life-changing."

"I'll be able to do day-to-day things, go and see people, walk in the street, even go to any public areas," he said.

The project was the work of the Center for Applied Reconstructive Technologies in Surgery, which is a collaboration between the team in Swansea and scientists at Cardiff Metropolitan University. It is featured in an exhibition on 3D printing at the Science Museum in London through July.

Design engineer Sean Peel said the latest advance should encourage greater use of 3D printing.

"The next victory will be to get this process and technique used more widely as the costs fall and as the design tools improve," Peel said.