Tessellating blister packages for contact lenses

#Contact lenses, such as hydrogel and silicone hydrogel contact lenses, are frequently packaged in sealed blister packages or blister packs that permit storage of the unworn contact lenses in a sterile environment. For instance, a blister package which is adapted to provide a sterile sealed storage environment for a disposable or single-use hydrophilic contact lens, wherein the lens is immersed in a sterile aqueous solution, for example, such as in an isotonic saline solution, is described in Martinez, U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,820. Additional contact lens packages are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,691,820; 5,054,610; 5,337,888; 5,375,698; 5,409,104; 5,467,868; 5,515,964; 5,609,246; 5,620,088; 5,695,049; 5,697,495; 5,704,468; 5,711,416; 5,722,536; 5,573,108; 5,823,327; 5,704,468; 5,983,608; 6,029,808; 6,044,966; and 6,401,915.

#As an example of part of a manufacturing process, a newly manufactured contact lens will be placed in a cavity or bowl of a plastic base member of a contact lens blister package, a contact lens packaging solution will be provided in the blister package cavity, and a foil sealing member will be adhered to the blister package to hermetically seal the contact lens in the packaging solution in the cavity. In other words, a contact lens blister package used in the manufacture of contact lenses contains a base member having a cavity or bowl, an unworn contact lens provided in a packaging solution within the cavity, and a sealing member sealed to the base member to provide an air tight seal around the perimeter of the cavity. The sealed blister package containing the contact lens is then autoclaved to sterilize the contact lens in the packaging solution in the cavity. The blister packs are understood to be primary packaging. Multiple blister packs are then placed in cartons. The cartons are considered secondary packaging. The cartons can be large and cumbersome.

#A need exists for a contact lens blister package that enables close packing of a plurality of such blister packages and compact secondary packaging containers to hold them.

#FIG. 1A is a front, right, top perspective view of a blister package according to an embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 1B is a front, left, bottom perspective view of the blister package shown in FIG. 1A.

#FIG. 1C is a bottom view of the blister package shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

#According to the present invention, a blister package for a contact lens is provided. The blister package comprises a body having a handle and a body dome connected to the handle. The body dome has an outer surface. The outer surface of the body dome provides a seating surface for a contact lens. A seal covers the contact lens on the body dome and seals to the top surface of the body, covering the body dome. The seal comprises a seal dome having an inner sidewall shaped to accommodate the body dome and having an outer sidewall that defines a blister package dome. In the space provided between the outer surface of the body dome and the inner surface of the seal dome, the contact lens can be seated, soaking in contact lens solution. The seal dome inner sidewall can substantially conform to an outer sidewall of the body dome while leaving enough room, when the seal is sealed to the body top surface, to accommodate the contact lens and a volume of contact lens solution.

#The blister package has a top surface and the blister package dome rising from the top surface. The base of the outer sidewall of the seal dome, which is the same as the base of the outer sidewall of the blister package dome, intersects the blister package top surface at an intersection. Herein, the outer sidewall of the seal dome will be referred to as a seal dome when the seal is not attached to the body, but the seal dome will be referred to as a blister package dome when the seal is attached to the body, forming an unopened blister package. The intersection has a shape and the shape has a maximum dimension, for example, the shape can be circular and the maximum dimension can be the diameter of the circle. The handle of the blister package has a through-hole, for example, a circular through-hole, and the through-hole has a through-hole diameter or other maximum dimension that is large enough to at least partially accommodate the blister package dome of a second, separate, but substantially identical, contact lens blister package.

#A seal can be connected to the body and can seal a volume at least partially defined by the inner sidewall of the seal dome and the outer sidewall of the body dome. The seal is on the top of the blister package such that a volume partly defined by the outer sidewall of the body dome is sealed by the inner sidewall of the dome, for example, along a perimeter at the base of the outer sidewall of the body dome. The through-hole diameter or maximum dimension can be the same size as the diameter or maximum dimension of the blister package dome at the base of the blister package dome. The intersection can have a circular shape and can have a diameter that is the maximum dimension of the dome of the blister package dome at the base of the blister package dome. The through-hole can have a diameter that can be at least as large as the maximum diameter or dimension of the blister package dome. Using circular shapes as an example, the diameter of the through-hole can be at least 50% of the diameter at the intersection, at least 70% of the diameter at the intersection, at least 90% of the diameter at the intersection, or 100% of the diameter at the intersection.