It’s really hard to miss out on the news about football players wearing Zorro’s masks during the games. When Son Heung-min showed up at the Qatar World Cup as South Korea face Brazil, wearing that shining, chic, black face mask, everyone on the internet was talking about it. Actually, many football players have been seen wearing similar masks to the match, including Croatian player Joško Gvardiol and Tunisia’s Ellyes Skhiri as in the cover picture. So, what are these face masks for and how are they made?
Protective face masks have been loved by many athletes who have recently fractured a nose or an eye socket but are eager to get back to the pitch as soon as possible. The 3D surface imaging, 3D modelling, and 3D printing technology enable the design process to be accurate and customisable, 100% specific to the face of the athletes. The masks are designed to be lightweight, comfortable and unobtrusive, but provide incredible strength to protect fractured bones or prevent future injury.
References:
Header Image Adapted from: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/28/why-are-world-cup-players-wearing-strange-face-masks-on-the-pitch
https://www.technologyinmotion.com/orthotics/sports-facemask/
This post was written by Esperanza Shi as part of an ongoing series of scientific communications written and curated by BioTrib’s Early Stage Researchers.
Esperanza is researching the Optimisation of Scanning Strategies for 3D Printed Artificial Joints at Imperial College London, UK.