US 5,861,114 A · Method of manufacturing complex optical designs in soft contact lenses

Abstract

A method of manufacturing complex optical surfaces in soft contact lenses includes a first step of defining the complex optical surfaces with a computer assisted drafting program using a mix of patient determined parameters and selected manufacturing process determined parameters to define a mathematical "meta lens". A machine code data set is then generated to machine a plurality of contact lens mold inserts to define a complex optical surface on each of the inserts. The machining step is conducted with a single point diamond lathe having submicron precision and repeatability. A first and second plurality of intermediate contact lens mold halves are then molded with said contact lens mold inserts to define said complex optical surfaces on said mold halves having micron range transitions between optical surfaces. The complex geometric forms and optical surfaces include bifocal lenses, aspheric lenses, and toric lenses wherein the lenses may include parabolic or elliptical geometry. The first plurality of mold halves is assembled with the second plurality of mold halves with a polymerizable monomer therebetween and polymerized to form a plurality of soft contact lenses having said complex optical surfaces defined thereon.

Claims27

Dependent claims

A method of manufacturing complex optical surfaces in soft contact lenses, said method including:

(a) automatically generating a cnc machine code data set for machining a contact lens mold insert to define a complex optical surface thereon;
(b) machining a plurality of said contact lens mold inserts with said cnc data set with a single diamond point lathe, said lathe having sub-micron precision and repeatability;
(c) simultaneously molding a first plurality of contact lens mold halves with said contact lens mold inserts to define said complex optical surface on said plurality of first mold halves;
(d) molding a second plurality of contact mold halves to cooperate with said first plurality of mold halves wherein a single first mold half and a single second mold half cooperate to define a mold space for a soft contact lens therebetween;
(e) assembling said first plurality of mold halves with said second plurality of mold halves with a polymerizable monomer therebetween;
and
(f) polymerizing said monomer to form a plurality of soft contact lenses having a complex optical surface.

4 more elements

A method of molding soft contact lenses, said lenses formed between first and second intermediate mold halves that are formed by injection molding, said method comprising:

automatically defining a complex optical surface with a computer assisted design program by using selected patient determined parameters and selected process determined parameters,
plating a first optical power insert to be used in an injection mold, with a NiP coating,
cutting said plated first optical power insert with a computer controlled mono-crystalline diamond cutter to create an optical power insert having complex optical characteristics,
forming a plurality of said first intermediate mold halves in an injection mold with said first optical power insert, forming a plurality of said second intermediate mold halves in an injection mold,
molding a contact lens between said first and second intermediate mold halves with a polymerizable composition, said contact lens having a complex optical surface with least two optical corrections formed therein.

2 more elements

A method of manufacturing complex optical surfaces for soft multi-focal contact lenses, said method including:

(a) automatically defining a complex optical surface with a computer assisted design program by using selected patient determined parameters and selected process determined parameters, said complex optical surface defined in a data set, said data set having a plurality of three dimensional coordinates that define a multi-focal contact lens;
(b) automatically machining a first optical power insert with a computer controlled mono-crystalline diamond cutter to create an optical power insert, said insert having a complex optical surface defined by said data set,
(c) forming a plurality of first intermediate mold halves in an injection mold with said first optical power insert,
(d) forming a plurality of second intermediate mold halves in an injection mold, said first and said second halves together defining a distance correction and a near add correction for a multi-focal contact lens to be molded therebetween;
(e) molding a plurality of multi-focal contact lens between said first and second intermediate mold halves with a polymerizable composition, each of said multi-focal contact lenses having at least two optical corrections formed thereon.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method of manufacturing complex optical designs in soft contact lenses

Life of this patent

Method of manufacturing complex optical designs in soft contact lenses

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims27