A model of no more than a third of a human’s face sits on an FDM-enabled fixture. Made up of seven different base materials, plus one support material, and exhibiting different hardnesses, transparencies, flexibilities and toughnesses, it has been produced with Stratasys' Digital Anatomy Solution.
On this occasion, Addion GmbH CEO Alexander Hechenberger is the one with the scalpel in hand, cutting through the model's surface and folding back the layers of skin, just as 40 trainee surgeons have done with similar models as of November 2025.
Hechenberger is demonstrating – as best he can, since he’s not a qualified surgeon – how the model has been used by those 40 trainees at the Anatomical Institute of the University of Innsbruck. The anatomical eye models are developed in collaboration with Eyecer.at GmbH and have been the subject of a research and development effort for several years. After the successful adoption of the models by the University of Innsbruck, Addion announced the application during Formnext 2025.
The Addion CEO provides this context as he makes his first incision, cutting deep enough into the model to peel back the manoeuvrable skin layer. The skin, as Hechenberger explains, has the bounding tissue and is connected to the muscle, so it needs to be separated from the layers underneath. Already, Hechenberger and those watching on can see the orbicularis muscle, with the bounding tissue in between, and the orbital septum. Also mimicked in this 3D printed model are the superior tarsal plate, the connection from the tarsal to the bone, ligaments, muscles, blood vessels (a red liquid mimicking blood runs when an incision is made), and the facial nerve. All of them are printed in different colours, helping the trainee surgeons to identify them and treat them accordingly. The facial nerve, for example, is not to be cut.
“You can really perform all the sutures there and simulate the operation,” Hechenberger says. “Training gets more efficient and easier. It’s always complicated to perform surgery, and to train, you need a body donor or an animal. For almost every disease that you can have in the eye, we have a model for it. We’re making medical education more accessible and easier.”
