Designing and making an open source, 3D-printed, punctal plug with drug delivery system.

With the advancement in the study of keratoconjunctivitis sicca and the scope of its treatment, punctal plugs are being widely used for the therapeutic management of dry eye disease. With the emergence of 3D printing in medicine, 3D printing of punctal plugs that have an inbuilt drug delivery system and also that can be personalized from patient to patient according to their punctum size can be a great therapeutic option. Another benefit of the device is that its printing takes a short period of time and is cost-effective. This study aimed at making an open source design and 3D printing an efficient model of a punctal plug with an inbuilt drug delivery system that can be eventually used for the treatment of various ocular diseases that require frequent drug instillation or blockage of the nasolacrimal pathway. The 3D design for the punctal plug was made using the open source application, FreeCAD, and slicing was done using the application ChituBox. After that, the plugs were printed using the LCD printer Crealty LD-002R. The material used was resin that was compatible with the Crealty LD-002R. Punctal plugs with satisfactory results were printed using the LCD printer. The punctal plugs showed suitable structure and were also easily reproduced in the 3D printer without any complications or setbacks.