High-tech printer used to rebuild facial features

NEW ears and noses will be ‘printed’ in a Swansea University lab as part of a €3million facial reconstruction project.

One in 100 people could benefit from the research, which will use ‘bioink’ to 3D-print replacements for noses and ears missing since birth or damaged by disease or accidents.

The ‘ink’ will be made from cells grown in vast numbers in the lab from a tiny sample of cartilage from inside the patient’s nose.

It’s hoped the lab-built versions will be more natural than existing prosthetics and lead to less scarring, says the Scar Free Foundation, one of the funders of the three-year project.