With the 3D printing market in healthcare set to reach €2.3 billion, there is a lot of interest surrounding the technology’s applications within the industry.
MTI Expo
Med-Tech Innovation Expo will be highlighting the sector’s advancements when it begins on the 25-26 April this year.
One of the companies exhibiting this year is product design group Blue Frog which will be showcasing a range of 3D printed medical products that have been used to help patients.
One of the company’s products was recently used to help a gentleman with a skin condition that made it uncomfortable to wear clothes. The condition, paresthesia, is an abnormal and uncomfortable sensation often presented as tingling, tickling, pricking, numbness or burning of a person’s skin with no apparent physical cause.
To help, Blue Frog was able to develop a 3D printed garment that stopped the man’s clothes from touching his body. By 3D scanning the patient’s body, Blue Frog was able to identify locations which it could hang the product to keep clothes away from his skin.
Blue Frog used a medical-grade material so the patient suffered no irritation. More so, due to the lightweight nature of the product, it also provides ventilation which allows air to flow through the device between the clothes and the body, helping to keep the patient cool.
Anyone attending Med-Tech Innovation Expo this year will have a chance to see Blue Frog’s 3D printed products in the flesh.
Speaking about the Med-Tech Innovation Expo, a spokesperson from Blue Frog said: “This key occasion draws together the medical engineering and manufacturing community, with more then 200 companies from all areas of the medical supply chain. We are excited to be involved with the entire spectrum of advanced technology, materials and solutions on show.”