Grandfather Rebuilds His Life With 3D-Printed Face After Horror Crash Involving Drunk Driver

14 hours ago

A morning ride with friends on a quiet stretch of the A303 ended in a collision that left him with life-altering facial injuries. The months that followed were marked by surgeries and doubt, until a piece of cutting-edge technology offered him a way to face the world again.

One morning in July 2021, Dave Richards, then 71, set out on a routine cycle up a hill on a rural B road with a group of friends. The weather was bright, but things shifted abruptly when a speeding driver approached from behind.

The man, who was over the drink-drive limit and distracted by his phone, tried to swerve around the cyclists but met oncoming traffic, leaving him with nowhere to go but into the group.

The force of the collision left Richards disoriented as the scene unfolded around him. He was dragged and trapped beneath the car. “I remember to this day being trapped underneath the car, feeling the sensation of burning and just wanting the car to go away, to be lifted off me,” he recalled.

The crash left him with third-degree burns on one side of his face and serious injuries to the other, along with a damaged back, pelvis, and broken ribs.

The grandfather of four was airlifted to the hospital, where doctors told him he was "lucky to survive." But the damage to his face was so severe that surgeons could not save his eye. “They were worried any infection could spread from my eye down the optic nerve to the brain so the eye was removed,” he said.

The months that followed were dominated by surgery, rehabilitation, and the slow work of adjusting to a changed reality. But during his recovery, a small but significant piece of hope emerged. The Reconstructive Prosthetics department at Southmead Hospital suggested creating a prosthetic for the damaged side of his face.

At first, Richards could not imagine it, “I was in too much of a mess to contemplate. But as time went on, then I thought it might be something that I could do.”

Originally, the team relied on moulds and casts to shape prosthetics by hand. But with the opening of the Bristol 3D Medical Centre, the first facility in the UK equipped to scan, design and print medical-grade facial prosthetics, a new option was availed. Richards became the first patient to benefit from the centre’s unique technology.

The technology allowed clinicians to map his features with precision and create a prosthetic that matched the natural contours of his face. The prosthetic is fitted using medical-grade materials and shaped to sit securely and comfortably over the injured area.

For Richards, it changed everything. “I’m quite hopeful that it’ll enhance my life and make me feel more self-confident,” he said.

As news of the breakthrough spread online, readers responded with a mix of sympathy and admiration.

“Poor man, I can’t imagine the suffering he’s endured. But he looks so much better now,” one wrote. Another added, “Poor dear, I’m glad he survived, he was indeed so brave. They did a wonderful job to reconstruct his face.”

Others highlighted his resilience. “What a man he is 👏 wow… that’s crazy,” one commenter said, while another wrote, “Now he looks very handsome, I bet he’s very happy 🙌👏[sic].”

Some readers praised the medical team working with Richards with comments like "Wow they did an incredible job 👍👏 I'm happy for him," and "Looks even more real than an actual face transplant. Well done!"

After years of uncertainty, Richards is stepping back into the world with renewed confidence, supported by medical innovation and the people who stood by him. The photographs below trace that journey, from the challenges he faced to the moments that now help define this new chapter: