Thanks To This 12YO’s Invention, Doctors Won’t Feel Pain From Wearing Face Masks All Day

Harin - Apr 13, 2020

With his 3D printer toy at home, a 12-year-old scout boy has made an "ear guard" to relieve the pain of medical workers from wearing face masks all day.

These days, the most touching images must be those of medical staff fighting in the front lines against the COVID-19 pandemic. And you look at their ears, you can see all the marks from wearing face masks for too long.

Face masks are extremely important medical protective equipment to prevent healthcare workers from being infected with the virus from droplets of COVID-19 patients. But they are not really well-designed. Many N95 face masks have flat rubber bands, the edges of which can cut into the doctors’ ears.

A 12-year-old boy scout in Canada has come up with a solution to deal with this problem with his 3D printer toy at home. And surprisingly, that was enough.

Ear Guard 03 — The boy had the idea to make an “ear guard” so that medical workers don’t feel the pain when wearing face masks all day

Quinn Callander currently lives on the outskirts of Vancouver, Canada. The boy had the idea to make an “ear guard” so that medical workers don’t feel the pain when wearing face masks all day.

But one of the obstacles that Callander faced was how to make this ear guard fit when people have different head sizes. And what Callander decided to do was to create a plastic piece with 8 double-bone fishhooks. The ear guard will take on the task of the ears, where the straps of the masks are hooked.

Ear Guard 3d Printing — The medical workers can adjust the ear guard to fit their head.

The medical workers can adjust the ear guard to fit their head. The plastic piece will be worn behind their head, just like how you tie the straps of some surgical face masks. Although this ear guard can’t reduce the pressure of the mask on the face, it could stop the healthcare staff’s ears from being hurt.

The feeling of comfort is important and can affect the protective effect of medical masks. A number of studies have shown that whenever health workers have to adjust the mask, there is a risk of germs invading.

With his 3D printer, Callander has made over 1,700 ear guards and gave them to hospitals in Vancouver. He also shared the design of his invention on Thingiverse, the open-source 3D-printing community.