Scientists from University of Nottingham (UK) and the Institute of Laser and Information Technology in Troitsk, near Moscow have teamed up to develop an implant which could help rebuild the faces of children injured in accidents or born with facial defects.
The PolyHap implants are mode of a “bone-friendly” polymer material – a honeycomb-like alternative to traditional titanium structures.
So far the operations carried out in Moscow have corrected jaw or skull deformities. But the implants can be adapted for any part of the skeleton.
The researchers Moscow are now working on a bio-degradeable version which will slowly dissolve as the repairing bone begins to re-grow.