3D Printed Bone Implants Are Now Available For Patients

[asphyxia]

Reconstructive purposes

Surgery to fill or cover a skeletal defect, either traumatic, congenital or idiopathic. Commonly out of “medical neccessity”.

Aesthetic purposes

Surgery to enhance the physical appearance of a patient. Can be either reconstructive (neccessity) or cosmetic (patient’s choice).

Directly quoting their website (from the "indication" section) , guess it's pretty much self explanatory...

[JimmyTheGent]

I sent them a question and asked if it can be used for cosmetic augmentation, this is reply:

"We do make custom facial augmentation implants, but only for reconstruction after trauma or surgery, i.e. when there is a medical need.
Unfortunately we don't make augmentation implants purely for cosmetic reasons.

Kind regards,

Erik


Well then I fit the bill for custom implants because after Lazlo analyzed my pictures and told me how much s**t I am lacking I was pretty damn "TRAUMATIZED" and in need of "reconstruction".  Im so ugly that its depressing which is also a medical condition.  Where do I sign up for these "medically needed"  implants??

Erik Boelen, MSc, PhD
Chief Operations Officer"

[Lazlo]

Sounds like it's just bulls**t.

[asphyxia]

ugly mofo (sure you're being harsh on yourself,but whatever), maybe he was referring to "extensive facial implants", saying it would be tricky to do it for cosmetic purpose, but maybe for smaller areas, such as jaw angles or chin, it would be ok...don't know actually

[overbiter]

It seems like maybe they are only offering this procedure to patients with trauma or congenital defects at the moment. They've changed their information a bit on this link http://www.xilloc.com/ct-bone/.

They are saying this now "Patients requiring skeletal augmentation, for example those with facial asymmetry resulting from either trauma or congenital defects, would be helped best with a bony implant made to match their anatomy". I don't see what their problem is. What difference does it make if someone is ugly because of a congenital defect, or because they just have weak bone structure? Why do they have to be so sniffy and decide whether someone is really ugly enough to warrant this surgery? I think they are ignoring a huge market if they go down this route.

On another note, the link above proves what I have been saying all along. CT-Bone does fuse with a patients bone and become like real bone. Click the "Comparison: Hydroxyapatite vs CT-Bone" hypertext link and see this.

"Further histological investigations showed that in the hydroxyapatite, bone-like tissue was only found in some micropores close to the surface. In CT-Bone®, large bone-like tissues penetrated into the macropores, containing activated osteoclasts, fibroblasts and even blood vessels. In addition, bone marrow formation was observed containing erythroblasts and megakaryocytes."

24 weeks post-op

[Lazlo]

okay, f**kin'A!!!!

Now we're getting somewhere. So next one of you needs to ask them which surgeon they've worked with for "congenital defects" which basically f**king means ugly okay?

[PloskoPlus]

Porous ha blocks have been around for at least 25 years.  The big difference here is these are 3d printed.

[Schrödingers Jaw]

It seems like maybe they are only offering this procedure to patients with trauma or congenital defects at the moment. They've changed their information a bit on this link http://www.xilloc.com/ct-bone/.

They are saying this now "Patients requiring skeletal augmentation, for example those with facial asymmetry resulting from either trauma or congenital defects, would be helped best with a bony implant made to match their anatomy". I don't see what their problem is. What difference does it make if someone is ugly because of a congenital defect, or because they just have weak bone structure? Why do they have to be so sniffy and decide whether someone is really ugly enough to warrant this surgery? I think they are ignoring a huge market if they go down this route.

On another note, the link above proves what I have been saying all along. CT-Bone does fuse with a patients bone and become like real bone. Click the "Comparison: Hydroxyapatite vs CT-Bone" hypertext link and see this.

"Further histological investigations showed that in the hydroxyapatite, bone-like tissue was only found in some micropores close to the surface. In CT-Bone®, large bone-like tissues penetrated into the macropores, containing activated osteoclasts, fibroblasts and even blood vessels. In addition, bone marrow formation was observed containing erythroblasts and megakaryocytes."

Now that's just mean or something, why would they do that?

[Optimistic]

Porous ha blocks have been around for at least 25 years.  The big difference here is these are 3d printed.

When they 3D print is it possible to have it so the outerpart is following the natural contours of hte pre-existing bone, so that really it's exactly like an osteotomy? Basically to be like an extension of existing bone.

Perhaps that seems dumb, however most implants I see are completely smooth and create weird, unnatural results.

My other concern would be how precision this can be with regard to predicting the necessary implant relative to soft-tissue movements. Whereas an osteotomy has the surgeon there able to precisely judge the movements and whether there ought to be an impromptu additional mm here or there.


P.S. Here is something I was sent by them. Honestly, it's concerning as f**k that THREE YEARS POST-OP the soft-tissue and implant are still changing. Is this s**t ever stable?

[boyo]

^
looks impressive to me, soft tissue seems to be slowly but continuously improving in symmetry, meaning the implant really interact with the soft tissue and does what it's intended to do. Must be impossible to remove though

seeing how good your communication with them is, could you get them to confirm if this is gonna be available for pure cosmetic purposes or not?

[Bobbit]

When they 3D print is it possible to have it so the outerpart is following the natural contours of hte pre-existing bone, so that really it's exactly like an osteotomy? Basically to be like an extension of existing bone.

Perhaps that seems dumb, however most implants I see are completely smooth and create weird, unnatural results.

My other concern would be how precision this can be with regard to predicting the necessary implant relative to soft-tissue movements. Whereas an osteotomy has the surgeon there able to precisely judge the movements and whether there ought to be an impromptu additional mm here or there.


P.S. Here is something I was sent by them. Honestly, it's concerning as f**k that THREE YEARS POST-OP the soft-tissue and implant are still changing. Is this s**t ever stable?

The pictures are a bit artifactual.   The contrast has been "turned up" before the last image was included in the set of images.  And notice the very careful choice of words - -  it doesn't say the implant is replaced by new bone.  Only that the implant "unifies"  with the old bone.  That happens at the boundary between the new implant and the native bone.

[Lazlo]

The pictures are a bit artifactual.   The contrast has been "turned up" before the last image was included in the set of images.  And notice the very careful choice of words - -  it doesn't say the implant is replaced by new bone.  Only that the implant "unifies"  with the old bone.  That happens at the boundary between the new implant and the native bone.

totally, these pics are bulls**t, see the shot scale is different in each one.

[Lazlo]

How good would the results be if CT bone was used to augment the brow ridge and lateral orbital rims? If its like an osteotomy then this might be the best thing since sliced bread. Hope for better eye structure?

yeah cause like anyone here could answer that question! 

[Lazlo]

haha true.

idk I just f**king want better eyes already!!   

me too bud, I have similar problems.

[molestrip]

Any guesses what happens to this thing with facial decline? Face skeleton doesn't change quickly but it does change and substantially over time. I predict losses of contact with protrusions. For that matter, the way bone replaces itself I still think the implant could migrate. Then there's the general issues of HA becoming infected or causing a foreign body reaction. There's sadly no substitute for good as new