3D printing helps reconstruct motorcyclist’s shattered face

Before (left) and after Stephen Power’s surgery (Picture: BPM Media Wales)

Pioneering use of 3D printer technology helped rebuild the skull of a man who suffered horrific injuries in a motorbike accident.

British surgeons ascertained the best way to reassemble Stephen Power’s shattered left cheek and eye socket using CT scans and 3D printing.

The 29-year-old also suffered two broken arms, a fractured skull and had to undergo a bone graft on his right leg following the accident in Porthcawl in September 2012, despite wearing a helmet.

Stephen Power said his life had been transformed by the surgery (Picture: BBC News)

Mr Power, from Cardiff, underwent surgery for eight hours at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, with his cheekbones being re-fractured, his face remodelled, and titanium implants fitted to hold the bones together.

‘Now I won’t have to hide my face away and can do everyday things like going for walks,’ he told Wales Online.

‘I can’t really explain how well it has gone.’