Process for hydrating soft contact lenses

The process of claim 20 wherein said lens blank is formed in a two-part mold including a concave mold part for molding the anterior surface of said lens blank and a convex mold part for molding the posterior surface of said lens blank;

• and said step of placing said lens blank in a first carrier element includes;
• opening said two-part mold leaving said lens blank in either said concave or convex mold parts;
• covering said mold part in which said lens blank is left with said first carrier element so that an optical surface of said lens blank is oriented toward said first surface of said first carrier element;
• retaining said first carrier element first surface so oriented with respect to said lens blank;
• releasing said lens blank from the mold part in which it was left;
• attaching said lens blank to said first surface of said first carrier element;
• holding said lens blank on said first carrier element first surface;
• disengaging said mold part from said first carrier element.

A process for removing one or more leachable substances form a hydrophilic polymeric contact lens blank, sad lens blank having an anterior surface and a posterior surface, comprising;

• confining said lens blank in a cavity to maintain the orientation of said lens blank without permitting said lens blank to invert over or roll over;
• providing a flow of fluid into said cavity and about said anterior surface of said lens;
• providing a flow of fluid including water into said cavity and about said posterior surface of said lens;
• and,
• providing a flow of said fluid out of said cavity to permit extraction of leachable substances including a boric acid ester from said lens blank and for hydrolyzing said ester and removing glycerol and boric acid products of hydrolysis from said lens blank.

A process for removing one or more leachable substances from a polymeric contact lens blank, sad lens blank having an anterior surface and a posterior surface, comprising;

• confining said lens blank in a cavity to maintain the orientation of said lens blank without permitting said lens blank to invert over or roll over by:
• placing said blank in a first carrier element with said posterior surface of said lens blank oriented toward a first surface of said first carrier element;
• covering said lens blank with a second carrier element with said lens blank anterior surface confronting a first surface of said second carrier element;
• said first and second carrier elements cooperating to define said cavity for confining said lens blank with said lens blank posterior surface oriented toward said first carrier element first surface and said lens blank anterior surface oriented toward said second carrier element first surface;
• providing a flow of fluid into said cavity and about said anterior surface of said lens;
• providing a flow of fluid into said cavity and about said posterior surface of said lens;
• providing a flow of said fluid out of said cavity to permit extraction of leachable substances form said lens blank;
• depositing said lens blank in one of said first or second carrier elements;
• separating said first and second carrier elements;
• covering the one of said first or second carrier elements in which the lens blank is deposited with a third carrier element;
• transferring and attaching said lens blank to third carrier;
• and
• depositing said lens blank from said third carrier element into a quantity of fluid in a lens inspection carrier, while maintaining the lens blank orientation without permitting the lens blank to invert or roll over, said inspection carrier having a volume and shape to maintain said lens blank so oriented during subsequent processing and inspection.

A process for removing one or more leachable substances form a polymeric contact lens blank, aid lens blank having an anterior surface and a posterior surface, comprising;

• confining said lens blank in a cavity to maintain the orientation of said lens blank without permitting said lens blank to invert over or roll over;
• providing a flow of fluid into said cavity and about said anterior surface of said lens;
• providing a flow of fluid into said cavity and about said posterior surface of said lens;
• and,
• providing a flow of said fluid out of said cavity to permit extraction of leachable substances from said lens blank, wherein said extraction step is accomplished int a plurality of discrete steps wherein the quantity of fluid is introduced into said cavity and permitted to stay in said cavity for a predetermined period of time and is then removed from said cavity and simultaneously replaced by another quantity of fluid,
• introduction and removal of fluid carried out a sufficient number of time sot reduce said leachable substances to a desired level.

A process for removing one or more leachable substances from a polymeric contact lens blank, said lens blank having an anterior surface and a posterior surface, comprising;

• confining said lens blank in a cavity to maintain the orientation of said lens blank without permitting said lens blank to invert over or roll over;
• providing a flow of fluid into said cavity and about said anterior surface of said lens;
• providing a flow of fluid into said cavity and about said posterior surface of said lens, said flow of fluid into the anterior surface of said lens blank initiated at a different time form the flow of fluid into the posterior surface of said lens blank;
• and
• providing a flow of said fluid out of said cavity to permit extraction of leachable substances form said lens blank.