Brazilian Cancer Survivor Receive 3D-Print Prosthetics
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A Brazilian cancer survivor is the newest recipient of a prosthetic eye and face made from 3D print to cover a hole caused by skin cancer, according to an article by Mitu.

Ten years ago, 52-year-old Denise Vicentin beat her cancer and since then, she has been living without a part of her jaw and her right eye. Due to her battle scars, she became self-conscious and afraid to go out in public. She had a reason, too, because she would become a head-turner wherever she went and, soon, her social life as well as her marriage fell apart.

"[Before] when I was on the metro or train, I tried not to pay attention to the stares. At places like the bowling alley, I felt them looking, and the person would even leave when they saw me," she told the Daily Mail.

The most defining chapter of her life began when, in her early 20s, Vicentin found a strange growth on her face. After going to the doctor, she found out it was a benign, non-cancerous tumor. She had it surgically removed but it returned again. She had the benign tumor removed for a second time and lived 20 more years tumor-free. Ten years ago, the tumor came back, but this time it was malignant, slowly consuming the right side of her face.

Vicentin was offered a hand-made prosthetic years ago, but she declined due to its expensive cost of half a million dollars.

As technology advanced, so has medicine. Vicentin sought out an alternative treatment at São Paulo's Paulista University just last year and researchers were able to create a custom prosthetic using just a smartphone camera and a 3D printer. The cancer survivor is able to walk into 2020 with her 'missing piece' and says she is so happy that she even sleeps with it on.

The final prosthesis took 12 hours to create at a lesser cost compared to that in the market. First, the doctors took 15 photos of Vicentin's right eye socket from a simple smartphone and from there, they were able to use all the images to digitize a 3-D model that would eventually become the blueprint for the 3-D printer. The final model was printed and refined from a mixture of silicone, resin, and synthetic fibers. After the 3-D printer created the technical piece that would sit flush on Vicentin's face, the researchers painted the prosthetic as realistic as possible and even secured lashes to resemble her other eyelid.

Since 2016, researchers have been perfecting the 3D prosthetic production and has benefitted over 50 patients so far.

So far, the Brazilian cancer survivor has been wearing the prosthetic for a month and she loves it.

"It was a long time looking at a face which was missing a piece, so I am so happy. I only took it off to clean it - I even slept with it," Vicentin said in an interview.