ABSTRACT
Eye malignancies, which involve vision impairment (VI) and/or blindness, are an increasing problem worldwide. The lack of effective treatments, together with the imbalance between organ donors and the demand of transplantation, make necessary the development of other strategies able to restore the patients’ vision and improve their life quality. Nowadays, regenerative medicine by the use of additive manufacturing technologies is becoming the cornerstone to resemble specific damaged or lost eye tissues, or even the whole eyeball. Besides, the immune-privileged environment of the eye facilitates graft transplantation with low probabilities of immunologic concerns and rejection. This book chapter discusses the biomaterials and cell types employed to date to bioprint and resemble specific eye tissues, taking into account their particular physical and mechanical properties. An in-depth analysis of each eye tissue is carried out explaining its particular anatomy, major diseases associated and current (but insufficient) treatments, with a special focus on the advances made to date in regenerative medicine using three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting and 3D printing. Other applications of this additive manufacturing technique to the eye are also covered, such as ocular prosthesis and the development of ocular contact lens (CL) for several applications. Finally, the main conclusion, challenges and future prospects are discussed.
