3D printing has done it again, and this time it may even get me to willingly go to the doctors. In a new study created by a team of undergraduate students at Rice University, the researchers reveal a rather ingenious way for making a trip to the phlebotomist "comfortably numb", making the shots we abhor from doctors visits a painless procedure to say the least.
"Comfortably Numb", the name of the product the student-team developed, involves a 3D-printed cylinder equipped with two internal chambers and a metal contact at the end. The chambers within the product hold water and ammonium nitrate (much like what's in instant ice packs), but in this product the metal contact delivers a numbing cold to the site of injection making that needle as painless as can be.
Seems simple, doesn't it? Well that's because it had to be.
"Because we don't have these incredibly refined skills in certain areas... that meant that we had to think of very simple solutions" coauthor of the study, Greg Allison says. "Being limited in that way led to something that is very novel and innovative, but at the same time simple and elegant."
This product was developed by a team of freshmen at Rice University who did not yet have the technical expertise to upgrade the simple device-that is, just yet. But that doesn't mean that the student researchers are done quite yet. As they continue to refine newer models of the "Comfortably Numb" the team plans to ultimately integrate the needle into the device, so that physicians and phlebotomists can numb and inject in one fell swoop.
"We are targeting anyone who has to get an injection, which is nearly everyone" Allison says. "But the device is especially applicable to people who are more susceptible to pain", including children and the elderly.
The team has begun applying for a provisional patent for the device, however, hopes to upgrade the models soon, with new knowledge that the students acquire in the course of their research and their studies at Rice University. And with a million dollar idea already in the works their Freshman year, we expect to hear big things from these researchers in the years to come.
