Oxygen permeable scleral contact lenses with thick payloads
AssigneeTectus Corporation
InventorBen H. Shelef
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A contact lens has a core that is thick enough to accommodate a payload. The core has a base surface for mounting the contact lens to the sclera of the user's eye. It also provides mechanical integrity to carry the payload. The contact lens also includes an outer covering and an inner covering. Each covering is a thin layer of gas-permeable material shaped to form an air gap between the covering and the core. The two air gaps are connected by an air path that traverses the core. Oxygen from an outside environment passes through the gas-permeable outer covering to reach the outer air gap, through the air path to the inner air gap, and through the gas-permeable inner covering to reach the cornea of the wearer's eye.
Claims21
A scleral contact lens that mounts to a sclera of an eye, comprising:
- a core having an outer surface that faces outwards away from the eye, an inner surface that faces inwards towards the eye, the inner surface comprising a base surface that attaches to the sclera;
- the core carrying a payload;
- a gas-permeable outer covering over the core's outer surface, the outer covering and the core's outer surface forming an outer air gap therebetween that receives oxygen from the external environment through the gas-permeable outer covering;
- a gas-permeable inner covering under the core's inner surface and disposed over a cornea of the eye, the inner covering and the core's inner surface forming an inner air gap therebetween that passes oxygen to the cornea of the eye through the gas-permeable inner covering, the base surface attaching to the sclera outside the inner covering;
- and
- wherein the core contains an air path traversing the core from the outer air gap to the inner air gap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.