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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Development of a 3D-printed Medication Label for the

Blind and Visually Impaired

Yijun Wong , Yihua Xu , Lifeng Kang *, Kevin Yi-Lwern Yap *
2,3
2
4
1
1 Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore, 18 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543, Singapore
2 School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Pharmacy and Bank Building A15, Science
Road, NSW 2006, Sydney, Australia
3 College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
4 Department of Public Health, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract: This study explored the potential of three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology in producing a three-dimensional
(3D) medication label for blind and visually impaired (BVI) patients to ease their drug administration. Different variations of
label wordings, dosing instructions, and medication identifiers were designed with reference to guidelines by the American
Foundation for the Blind. Shapes and symbols were used as dosing instructions and medication identifiers to the patient’s
medical conditions. Prototype designs were created with common graphics computer-assisted drafting software and 3D-
printed using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene as the polymer filament. Feedback was then obtained from five people with
normal vision and four BVI persons. The initial prototype comprised four components, namely, medication name and strength,
patient’s name, dosing instruction, and medication identifier. A revised label comprising the latter two components was
developed after feedback by BVI persons. Words were in all uppercase and regular font type, with a 5-mm center-to-center
letter spacing. Elevation heights of the letters alternated between 1 mm and 1.5 mm. A half sphere represented the medication
dose unit, while vertical lines and a horizontal center line with alternating elevation of arrowheads represented the frequency
of administration and the medication’s consumption in relation to food, respectively. Symbols based on target organs were
used as medication identifiers. With rapid advancements in 3DP technologies, there is tremendous potential for producing 3D
labels in patients’ medication management.

Keywords: Blind, Medication label, Pharmacy, Prescription label, Three-dimensional printing, Visually impaired

*Corresponding Authors: Lifeng Kang, Email: lifeng.kang@sydney.edu.au and Kevin Yi-Lwern Yap, Email: K.Yap@latrobe.edu.au
Received: April 10, 2020; Accepted: April 21, 2020; Published Online: April 30, 2020
Citation: Wong Y, Xu Y, Kang L, et al., 2020, Development of a 3D-printed medication label for the blind and visually
impaired, Int J Bioprint, 6(2):276. http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v6i2.276

1 Introduction diseases and aging processes . This is of concern as
[4]
the proportion of the elderly is expected to increase
According to the World Health Organization, there from 617 million (8.5% of the world’s population)
are ~2.2 billion people globally estimated to be [5]
blind and visually impaired (BVI), among which to nearly 1.6 billion (17%) by the year 2050 .
majority are 50 years and above . In the United While medication compliance is challenging
[1]
States, ~23.7 million American adults (61% women, for many patients, this is even more so for BVI
39% men) experience vision loss . The average patients, who face additional challenges. The
[2]
age of these BVI persons is 62 years , which is in World Health Organization defines low vision
[3]
sync with the global trend. The risk of vision loss as acuity <6/18 and blindness as acuity <3/60 .
[6]
increases exponentially with age due to chronic eye When sight is limited or absent, these patients
© 2020 Wong, et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.
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