Digital Prosthetic Iris Replication via High-Resolution Printing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for creating prosthetic irises are inefficient, costly, and lack consistency, often requiring hours of hand-painting and resulting in visible brush strokes or mismatched colors, which can draw attention and be unsuitable for patients with residual vision.
Innovation Solution
Integration of digital technology using high-resolution digital photography and printing (300-2400 dpi) to accurately replicate iris colors and structures, with a starter kit of digitized iris prints allowing for precise matching and customization, including transparent pupils for light perception.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If hand-painting methods are used to create prosthetic irises, then customization and color matching can be achieved, but the process is time-consuming, costly, and results in visible brush strokes that reduce manufacturing precision
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses digital photography to capture the patient's natural iris and creates a digital copy that can be processed and printed with high precision. This digital copying eliminates the need for time-consuming hand-painting while maintaining accurate color and structural replication. The digital image can be stored, revised, and reproduced consistently without the variability inherent in manual painting techniques.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical hand-painting process with a digital imaging and printing system. High-resolution digital photography captures the iris details, and digital printing reproduces them on the prosthetic eye surface. This substitution eliminates brush strokes and manual variability, achieving superior manufacturing precision while dramatically reducing production time from hours to minutes.
2Reliability
If hand-painting is used for iris customization, then color matching is possible, but the process lacks consistency and requires frequent re-painting, reducing reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The digital copying process creates an exact replica of the natural iris that can be consistently reproduced. The digital image serves as a permanent template that eliminates variability between different painting sessions or artists. This ensures reliable color matching and structural accuracy across multiple prosthetic eyes or repairs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs the color matching and iris pattern capture in advance using digital photography, creating a reusable digital template. This preliminary action allows the actual prosthetic manufacturing to proceed quickly and consistently without requiring repeated manual painting sessions, improving both reliability and ease of manufacture.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If opaque artificial irises are used in patients with residual vision, then complete ocular coverage is achieved, but light perception is blocked, worsening the patient's quality of life
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different optical properties to different regions of the prosthetic iris. The pupil area is made transparent to allow light passage for patients with residual vision, while the iris stroma maintains pigmentation for cosmetic appearance. This local differentiation of properties enables simultaneous light perception and aesthetic function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses digital imaging to capture and reproduce the natural iris color patterns with high fidelity, while selectively modifying the transparency characteristics. The digital printing process can vary pigment concentration and opacity across different iris regions, creating areas of transparency for light passage while maintaining color accuracy for cosmetic purposes.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system of producing a digitally printed iris structure for an artificial eye by using suitable digital graphics software, the appearance of a dilating pupil/collarette is created within the combined center portion/inner ring area of a prosthetic eye—in that a pupil appears to dilate from a small diameter in bright light to a comparatively large diameter in dimmer or darker light. The process of creating such effect is a unique extension of the knowledge that certain colors and pigments in bright light are most apparent, and in dark light tend to appear grey to black.