After having my 4th implant I see the need for such a device and I wanted to poll the community to see the best way of approaching it.
The Popsicle stick taped next to the injectable send to be the most common method. But I’m curious if this can be improved upon.
My thought process is a 3d printed design in TPU that is essentially a long cup. Once the implant is installed, this holder can be placed over the implant held in place with either surgical tape or a bandaid. The Popsicle stick helps movement in one direction but doesn’t seem to help the implant from migrating towards the entry site. I feel if there was something that kind of held it in place it would help it retain it’s new home properly.
I can try to mock something up, all I have is pla so I could make the base kind of thin to allow it to bend. I just feel like there has to be a decent solution to help these guys from flipping and jumping around from where we intend them to remain.
I was thinking the same after getting my xmagic. On the other hand what I found was that the xseries implants, migrate a lot and this is because of the cylindrical shape of the capsule. In my experience they ended up at the spot with less resistance, despite all the “guiding” with pop sticks. If you want to build something like this, I would suggest something with П shape. Keep us posted, I am interested how this project will unfold.
I’m batting the idea around in my head before I do a mock up. But I’m thinking it can be a insertion guide template as well as a implant stabilizer with registration points so when you place it you know the exact position.
So prior to install you make a mark where you want your implant. You place this over it. You then have a window and three spots you can mark with a sharpie. The marks indicate where the needle insertion point should be, and then two marks so you know where to reposition the template after install to retain the implant
But in other news I used wooden matchsticks instead of popsicle sticks to hold my magic in place. I could break them to size easily and they worked very well.
Like your idea.
It’d be nice to be able to keep it in place both ways.
Mine was moving all over.
Hope it works out for ya. Will be following along.
Okay so i had some time to whip something up real quick.
This was what i had in mind. Two holes for registration marks, an open cavity in the middle, and a notch.
This stencil can be placed on the hand, you can use a pen or sharpie to outline intended location of the implant, the two registration holes, and the suggested insertion point.
Remove the stencil, inject. Replace the stencil and secure with surgical tape.
I made 2 different versions. one at .25mm, another at .56mm
i wanted it thin enough so it can be formed around the hand or finger even and be flexible.
a lot is going to depend on physiology from person to person… and installer also…
when I get installs, I can’t even feel them until pretty much AFTER the healing has finished… during its just an undefined lump with no hard edges that would “restrain it”
You could take Ibuprofen or naproxen and that should reduce the swelling and something like this would help. But with your physiology I don’t know if the sucker stick method would even help
I was considering using a bread clip. It’s something I have on hand. Ignore the pun. Place it with the hole over the chip and tape it down. Maybe padding on top, under the tape, to press it down firmly enough. I may still need to use toothpicks so it will dig in enough to block migration.
Hi all, quick sketch up I did to cover a problem I haven’t seen addressed yet.
Fig. 1 displays an example implantation at location P0.
Fig. 2 displays the use of @Hamspiced implant retainer on the same implantation, which successfully impedes migration of the implant in the X or Z direction.
However;
Fig. 3 shows the P0 implantation from the side, where a red field indicates the cut away region as shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 shows the freedom of the implant to migrate in the Y direction, and subsequently, others.
Observing this, it seems rational to me to suggest that some sort of compressive retainer be used in conjunction with the design made by @Hamspiced so that the implant is held from both the top and the bottom.
At the bottom right of the .jpeg there is a quick brainstorm of a concept for a 3D printable that could achieve this.
My quickly thought idea was to have this item printed in a flexible material like TPU. That way when secured to the area it can be molded around those areas like the blade.
I am also going to redesign a slim version that can be placed on a finger as well. Standby this will be a quick and dirty render
So this design is small enough that with strong surgical tape or even KT tape it will hold place well. Also with this design I could probably increase thickness to around 1mm so it holds deeper and not worry about it needing to form around an edge
This is mostly what I was thinking about. Thanks for the prototype picture.
In case I am able to get autodesk fusion 360 running properly on my machine I would be able to build the stl. Unfortunately the intel iris video chipset is pain in the a$$ and the studio is crashing all the time.
I’m happy to make an .stl file as well, just wanted to wait on some community feedback, both on the Y migration problem and the compressive retainer.
I know that there is intrinsic musculature in the hand such as the Adductor Pollicis that will naturally act to inhibit the implants movement in the Y direction, however the implant doesn’t need to get past this musculature, only under the flat retaining device.
If you adduct your thumb, bringing it tight against the side of your hand and pointer finger like you would during install, you can see a large section of tissue become tented. Even using tape to hold it in place, I’m concerned the flat retainer will simple ride on the top skin of this tent, creating sufficient tissue depth for the implant to slip under the flat retainer. Now imagine there are many motions like this your hand makes in a day.
Note I do not have an implant so my concept of how deep they sit and move is vague. Hamspiced seems to think that with the adjusted 1mm thickness it should have adequate depth to prevent this drift, which I am not equipped to discredit or validate them on.
If the consensus is that the community wants a two piece retainer, or even just yourself, I would like to request feedback on the compressive retainer.
I have not designed springs before, but it is intended to function as a tangential torsion spring acting at two points along the compressive surfaces for even distribution of force across the implant site and strength redundancy in the component, as I have an SLA printer that produces brittle parts not ideal for mechanical applications.
I’ll be shocked if someone with a better knowledge of mechanical engineering can’t suggest a few improvements, optimizations, or a flat out better design.
Taped a bread clip over my NExT this morning, under rolled up napkin. Cheap prototype.
Seems too thin to have much of an effect. I approve of increasing thickness. Will try tightening it when I change the tape. (At least having my hand covered in tape is reminding me not to move or grip things with that hand.)
If it’s thick enough to really press into the flesh, I wonder if the hard edge will irritate the skin? I might try cutting the shape out of foam or thick mole skin. Those with 3D printers could add a rounded bevel or lip if this is a concern.
My xMagic I installed recently is trying it’s darndest to moved back to the injection site and I’ve been trying to keep it in place. @Sanguifier if you’d like to shoot me an STL, I can print it tonight and test it out!
, I’m on the other side of the equation… my chips won’t migrate no matter how much I try to coax one to move…
