Customised plastic skull replaces growing natural skull.

MEDICINE In ground-breaking surgery, a 22-year-old Dutch woman has had her skull replaced by a 3D printed artificial skull made of plastic. The most extensive of its kind ever performed, the surgery is considered very successful by the surgeons of the University Medical Centre Utrecht south of Amsterdam.
Today, the woman is healthy, symptom- free, and back to work. Before the surgery, she was deathly ill, suffering from a rare disorder that made her skull grow thicker all the time. Normally, a skull is 1.5 cm

thick, but the woman’s measured 5 cm. So her skull began to press against her brain, causing severe headaches. Moreover, the immense pressure meant she was close to going blind and had difficulties controlling her facial muscles.
Based on accurate scans of the woman’s skull, a 3D printer made an exact plastic copy of her skull. When doctors previously replaced the skulls of for instance road accident victims, they made the skulls of a type of cement, but the 3D printed skull fits much more accurately. 

Skull replaced in surgery
After surgeons removed the patient’s skull, they inserted a 3D printed artificial skull, which was an exact copy of the patient’s own skull. Using metal screws, the skull was mounted on the remains of the existing skull.