Available to download on Pinshape, Inhalo is a 3D Printed Asthma Inhaler with a discreet design that’s stylish and practical.

If you suffer from asthma, a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, then using an inhaler is not always as discreet as you might like. First comes the wheezing, and then comes the fumbling for an inhaler and the sharp intake of air as you pump the medicine into your lungs.

Carting one around in your bag can be pretty cumbersome, too, but for many sufferers leaving the inhaler behind at home is not really an option.

Enter the Inhalo, a 3D printable alternative to regular inhalers in the market. Inhalo features both functional and aesthetic advantages, chiefly that it doesn’t look like an inhaler — which offers discretion and confidence to users — and that the casing doubles as an spacing aerochamber to better facilitate inhalation.

We love it, especially that designer Luis Daniel Sanchez has made Inhalo available for “free” download from Pinshape under Creative Commons licensing. It prints without supports, and was created through a collaboration between an end-user and an industrial designer.

3D Printed Asthma Inhaler looks like a Spy Gadget

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Inhalo is that it doesn’t look like a typical piece of medical equipment. It looks sleek and elegant, like something James Bond or Jason Bourne would pull out of their pocket (if they suffered from asthma).

Critically, it’s fully compatible with standard medicine canisters, with two different sizes to fit different canister sizes. The makers also claim can be easily cleaned and sterilized, though this would depend on the type of filament being used. A food-safe filament like PET might be the better choice.

The great thing about the Inhalo is that Sanchez wasn’t just looking to make a cool design, but a meaningful one. It’s practical to make a 3D printed asthma inhaler at home. It’s cheap, customizable, and fast. Yet, that only scratches the importance of the design.

Printable inhalers do already exist, but most are simply reconstructions of the usual design. By creating an inhaler that wasn’t so obvious and awkward, asthmatics may feel more comfortable about using their inhalers, or carrying them around every day. And by sharing the design, makers can also get their hands on the files quickly, and make their own modifications.

If you’re interested in more work by Sanchez, he has also designed a children’s asthma inhaler that’s really, really cute, as well as a syringe which is part of a movement to fight diabetes in his home country Mexico.

All images copyright their respective owners.