3D Printed Multimaterial Hydrogels for Color Blindness Correction

Abstract

Multimaterial 3D printing is a novel technology with exciting potential. This study explores the use of vat photopolymerization-based 3D printing to build multimaterial hydrogel disks and lenses with increased multiband optical filtering. Such hydrogel devices can be useful for treating ocular diseases including color blindness. The printed multimaterial disks were examined for their optical characteristics and swelling behavior. The optical qualities of the contact lenses were found to be unaffected by the multi-material printing technique. Due to the two dyes that were utilized, the printed multimaterial hydrogels provided a combined multi-band color blindness correction. The obtained optical spectrum closely matched the color blindness correcting glasses that are readily available on the market.