摘要： People may have heard of three dimensional (3D) printed firearms, which carries bad publicity for 3D printing, yet amazing things have been achieved with simple desktop 3D printers within the medical field. 3D printing was almost unheard of until the last 5 years; as key additive-manufacturing patents expire, affordable desktop 3D printers mushroomed globally. The technology of 3D printing is not new. Actually, the idea can be traced back to as early as the 1890s when Blanther suggested a layered method for making a mould for topographical relief maps. However, it was not until 1987 when the first additive manufacturing machine emerged. In simpler terms, 3D printing is in fact 2D printing but over and over again, layered together. As patents expire, innovation took over the stage and people started building affordable, user-friendly 3D printers that are now widely available. Fused deposition modelling (FDM) printers are the most common consumer oriented printers and brands such as MakerBot and Ultimaker currently dominate the consumer market. These are low end 3D printers that have made the biggest impacts and allowed innovative leaps in the medical field. Recently, an interventional radiologist managed to save a patient’s spleen with 3D printing technology. The patient was diagnosed with a number of complicated tortuous splenic aneurysms and conventionally, she would have been treated with splenectomy. However, the interventional radiologist managed to spare her spleen by coiling the aneurysms instead. The success was not by luck or co-incidence; it was through countless practices on a 3D printed replica of the patient’s splenic aneurysms. 3D printing in ophthalmology is an exciting field. There are a variety of uses ranging from optics industry printing spectacles to scientist printing ocular tissues such as sclera and cornea. 3D printing has the advantage of low-cost yet high-level customization, making it cost-effective for making one of a kind devices or prostheses. Combined with 3D scanning technology, a patient could have his or her customized prosthetic eye 3D printed in a matter of days instead of weeks.