Alcon, Inc.

Michelle Plavnik

Steve Yun Zhang

Yuan Chang

Junhao Ge

Augustine Twum Kumi

Jing Cheng

Yang Zheng

Chandana Kolluru

Cornelius Daniel Niculas

Zahra Bassampour

Ethan Leveillee

Daqing Wu

Feng Jing

Richard Charles Breitkopf

David Andrew Icenogle

Ying Pi

Ya-Wen Chang

A method for producing embedded hydrogel contact lenses comprises at least the following steps: obtaining an insert made of a crosslinked polymeric material comprising repeating units of a free-radical photoinitiator; placing the insert in a female lens mold half; dosing an amount of a lens-forming composition to immerse the insert in the female lens mold half; closing tightly a male lens mold half onto the top of the female lens mold half halves to form a molding assembly; actinically curing both the lens-forming composition in the molding assembly to form an embedded hydrogel lens precursor which comprises a bulk hydrogel material formed the lens-forming composition and the insert that is embedded therein and covalently linked to the bulk hydrogel material.

Method for making embedded hydrogel contact lenses

A dosing system and method for delivery of contact lens formulation(s) to a contact lens forming mold. The system includes a carrier portion configured for holding a contact lens mold, and an alignment mandrel configured for retaining a lens formulation delivery device. The lens formulation delivery device is retained in a specified position relative to the contact lens mold for precise location of delivery of the lens formulation within the contact lens mold. A first lens formulation can be dosed to a center location in the mold, and a different second lens formulation can be dosed to a ring-shaped pattern around the center location, to form a contact lens having different center and edge characteristics.

Formulation dosing device for contact lens fabrication

The invention is directed to an embedded hydrogel contact lens, which comprises an insert sandwiched between two layers of hydrogel materials and can be produced according to a cast molding method including the procedures involving two females halves (FCand FC) and two male halves (BCand BC) and three consequential molding steps involving three molding assemblies: the 1st one formed between FCand BCfor molding an insert; the 2one formed between FCand BCfor molding a lens precursor having the molded insert embedded in a layer of a hydrogel material in a way that the front surface of the molded insert merges with the convex surface of the lens precursor; and the 3rd one formed between FCand BCfor molding an embedded hydrogel contact of the invention.

The invention relates to a method for producing embedded hydrogel contact lenses involving a set of 3-mold halves consisting essentially of: one female lens mold half having a molding surface defining the anterior surface of a contact lens; one male lens mold half having a molding surface defining the posterior surface of the contact lens; and an insert mold half having a molding surface defining one of the front and back surfaces of an insert. One of the lens mold halves is used twice: first with the insert mold half for molding an insert during first curing process and then with the other lens mold half for molding an embedded hydrogel contact lens with the molded insert embedded partially or fully therein during second curing process. The invention also relates to embedded hydrogel contact lenses produced from a method of the invention.

Embedded hydrogel contact lenses

Described herein is a method for producing a contact lens comprising a central photochromic zone that has a diameter of about 13 mm or less and is concentric with the central axis of the contact lens. The method comprises: applying a first polymerizable fluid composition containing at least one photochromic compound on a central portion of the molding surface of a female mold half to form a circular layer; partially photocuring, in situ, the circular layer in the female mold half by using a visible light; dispensing a second polymerizable fluid composition over the partially-cured circular layer on the molding surface of the female mold half; and a step of thermally curing the second polymerizable fluid composition and the partially-cured circular layer immersed therein in the mold cavity formed between the molding surfaces of the female mold half and a male mold half.

Method for making photochromic contact lenses

Described herein is a method for producing photochromic silicone hydrogel contact lenses in a relatively efficient and consistent manner from a polymerizable composition under a controlled thermal curing scheme. The main polymerizable components in the polymerizable composition are a high radical-reactive hydrophilic (meth)acrylamido monomer, a high radical-reactive siloxane-containing (meth)acrylamido monomer, and a polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker(s) free of low-reactive ethylenically unsaturated group as the main crosslinker. The thermal free radical initiator having a 10 hour half-life temperature (T) of from about 50° C. to about 90° C. The controlled thermal curing scheme includes maintaining a first curing temperature of from about (T−20)° C. to about T° C. for a first curing time and maintaining a second curing temperature of from about (T+10)° C. to about (T+35)° C. for a second curing time.

Described herein is a method for producing photochromic contact lenses, in particular, photochromic silicone hydrogel contact lenses. The method comprises a step of cast molding of a lens-forming composition including an iniferter to form an unprocessed contact lens having iniferter moieties covalently incorporated into its polymer matrix and a step of iniferter-induced graft-polymerization of a photochromic vinylic monomer to the polymer matrix only in its central region which is circular and concentric with the central axis of the unprocessed contact lens. The obtained photochromic contact lens has a central pupillary region that only can undergo a reversible color change upon exposure to UV/HEVL-radiation.

Described herein is a method for producing a contact lens comprising a central photochromic zone that has a diameter of about 13 mm or less and is concentric with the central axis of the contact lens. The method comprises: applying, in the center of the molding surface of a male mold half, a drop (having a volume of about 5 &#x3bc;L or less) of a first polymerizable fluid composition containing at least one photochromic compound and a relatively-high molecular weight polysiloxane vinylic crosslinker for increasing the viscosity and adhesion on the molding surface of the male mold half; dosing a second polymerizable fluid composition in a female mold hald; closing the female mold hald with the male mold half with the drop thereon to form a molding assembly; and curing the second polymerizable fluid composition and the drop of the first polymerizable fluid composition in the molding assembly.

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Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Michelle Plavnik