"Since I got this titanium plate, my eye is back in its place. My tear, a tear I had constantly running down my face, is now gone."
Thirty years ago, Maxime Turpin, a meterologist who has spent much of his life living alone on remote islands near Réunion, fought a battle against cancer that left him with a hole in his orbital floor that caused impaired vision and severe irritation, in addition to a visible deformity. After having returned to the mainland on Réunion itself, a 60-year-old Maxime turned to Dr. Vives, Head of the Maxillofacial Surgery Department at the University Hospital of La Réunion, to receive the treatment he needed to repair his eye. Dr Vives used a patient-specific mini-plate system from OBL, a Materialise company, to return Maxime's eye to a physically and aesthetically comfortable position.
Interview with Maxime Turpin:
When he was thirty years old, Maxime Turpin had a maxillectomy, a procedure by which the section of his upper jaw bone affected by cancer was removed. Unfortunately, nothing could be done to reconstruct the hole of about 2.5 cm in his left orbital floor at that time. Without a surface to hold the skin around his eye up, over the years it began to droop, leaving an open gap even with his eyes shut tight. This led to Mr. Turpin suffering restless nights as his eye was in constant contact with the air, leaving him each morning with a red, irritated eye.
Upon his retirement at age 60, Mr. Turpin turned to Dr. Vives, Head of the Maxillofacial Surgery Department at the University Hospital of the Réunion Island. Once Dr. Vives analyzed the case, he began to understand its complexity. Dr. Vives figured that the best way to fix Mr. Turpin's left orbital floor would be to insert a patient-specific implant beneath the patient's eye.
Clinical engineers at OBL, a Paris based company from the Materialise Group, planned the case in 3D together with Dr. Vives and designed a plate modelled on the healthy side of the patient's skull. This plate was 3D printed in titanium and inserted during surgery, restoring the position of Mr. Turpin's eye to a physically and aesthetically comfortable position. "I could only do this operation thanks to the OBL patient-specific mini-plate system" states Dr. Vives.
After the surgery, Mr. Turpin is delighted to say that he can finally sleep without having to cover his eye each night. Also, his eye no longer waters nor does light cause him discomfort. His 30-year-old battle has finally been won.
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