TWI515473B - A contact lens and manufacturing method thereof and method of enhancing the appearance of a wearer's eyes - Google Patents

Description

Contact lens and manufacturing method thereof, and method for strengthening appearance of contact lens wearer's eyes

Contact lenses can be colored or dyed to provide different appearance to the glasses. This corrects eye appearance problems or beauty.

U.S. Patent No. 4,652,099 discloses a contact lens having a white portion around it. However, it is generally not possible to obtain a lens that can make the appearance of the eye natural or desired, only by whitening the portion. The lens of the present invention solves this problem.

The present invention is a contact lens having a central portion and a surrounding portion disposed around the central portion. The surrounding portion is colored in a bright color and has a pattern that gradually stratifies to the outer diameter of the lens.

The bright surrounding portion may be opaque, semi-opaque or translucent near the surrounding portion and may include a color (limus) or limb ring. The bright portion extends from the edge of the edge to the surrounding portion, resulting in a brighter or whiter sclera effect. Together with the edge ring, it provides a contrasting effect and contributes to the overall effect of a brighter or whiter sclera. In another aspect of the invention, the area surrounding the contact lens is colored in a geometric pattern.

The lenses of the present invention have a natural appearance.

The lenses of the present invention have a pattern that enhances the appearance of the sclera of the lens wearer. The lenses may also include edge ring patterns that form an iris that appears larger or deeper or more distinct. Furthermore, the lenses of the present invention may have additional pattern elements that completely or partially cover the wearer's iris.

The "edge ring" is an endless ribbon that partially or completely overlies the lens wearer's wheel or sclera to the cornea when the lens is on the eye and at the center. The innermost edge of the edge ring or the edge closest to the geometric center of the lens may form a circle having a diameter of from about 8 mm to about 12 mm, preferably from about 11 mm to about 13 mm, which is aligned with the geometric center of the lens. . The ring may have any suitable width, and is preferably a width of from about 0.5 to about 2.5 mm, more preferably from about 0.75 to about 2.00 mm.

The center portion contains the area that covers the iris when worn. The central portion can therefore also be colored and include a ring. It is preferred that both the iris and the edge ring are patterned in accordance with U.S. Patent No. 7,246,903, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Such coloring essentially includes a triangular shaped structure, similar to a spoke, extending from the innermost edge of the edge ring toward the geometric center of the lens. The one end tapered spar may, but preferably does not extend beyond the iris portion of the entire lens, i.e., the portion of the lens overlying the iris when the lens is on the eye and at the center. It should be noted that it is preferred that the spoke extends inwardly from the innermost edge of the edge ring such that the innermost edge of the spoke pattern is located about 6.5 mm or more from the geometric center of the lens, more preferably about 7 mm or more. The spokes may be the same or different in shape and size, and preferably have a length of from about 1 to about 2 mm.

The lens shown in Figure 1 is generally circular, but can be any shape suitable for contact lenses, such as elliptical or truncated. The lens has a center 10 and a central portion 11. A surrounding portion 20 is disposed about the central region 11 and extending to the peripheral edge of the lens. The peripheral portion has an inner diameter 21 and an outer diameter 22 that may, but need not necessarily, conform to the outer edge of the entire lens.

The surrounding portion 20 is colored in a bright color. "Bright color" is defined as white, near white, off-white, light yellow, light blue, light pink, light green, or any combination of the above. The bright color is configured to gradually merge with the wearer's sclera.

The lens may optionally have a rim ring or pattern 13 (Fig. 2). The peripheral portion 20 is colored in accordance with the present invention to enhance the appearance of the sclera. The coloring of the portion around the lens can be opaque, translucent, or somewhere in between (semi-opaque). It is not necessarily a uniform color, but in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, it is preferred to enhance the appearance by providing the sclera with an airy, more natural appearance. "Opacity" for these purposes means a color which enables an average transmittance (% T) of light having a wavelength of from 380 to 780 nm ranging from 0 to about 50% T, preferably from 7 to about 50% T. "Translucent" for these purposes means that the average transmittance (% T) of light having a wavelength of 380 to 780 nm ranges from about 50 to about 85% T, preferably from about 65 to about 85% T. .

2 shows an embodiment of the invention in which the color of the periphery 20 of the lens is a gradual change from opaque to translucent or transparent from the inner diameter 21 to the outer outer diameter 22, and the edge ring 13. The central portion 11 is also colored or stained and may also be considered an iris portion if its ocular effect is to cover or strengthen the iris. This combination provides the most natural iris (the wearer's actual iris) and dark edge ring contrast when providing the added benefit of bright coloring around. The edge ring can be any suitable width or pattern that naturally blends the ring with the iris, the iris pattern, and the white color applied to the surroundings. The edge ring can be translucent or opaque. The central portion 11 is typically 10-13 mm in diameter and preferably has a diameter greater than 11 mm.

Figure 3 shows the lens of the present invention having a bright color applied to the periphery 20 in a geometric pattern. In this case, the pattern appears in a circular configuration that is removed from the surface of the lens (otherwise in white), causing the circles to contact their adjacent circles in a tangential direction. It can also be considered as a cross-shaped bright color structure of a plurality of courses formed by their circles. The pattern comprising the geometric shapes can be formed from a regular shape structure or a plurality of random dots or shapes as seen in FIG. Any other suitable shape that exhibits a realistic or enhanced tone feel can be used, particularly a geometry that achieves the desired hue or chroma. The dots used in the pattern of the present invention may be of any size, and are preferably from about 0.060 to about 0.180 mm in diameter, more preferably from about 0.0075 to about 0.0125 mm in diameter. Small dots help to fuse the edges of the different components of the lens.

In any of the patterns of the invention, the center is preferably clarified. However, the central portion can be a translucent or opaque color or an area of any combination of opaque and translucent colors.

When used in a lens to enhance or change the color of the wearer's eyes, it is preferred that the edge ring member is a solid ribbon that covers the color of the lens wearer's edge, and more preferably the cover color is an opaque color. The remaining components, ie spokes, dots and other pattern elements, may be translucent or opaque depending on the desired cosmetic results on the eye.

The color selected for each edge ring and iris pattern element is determined by the natural color of the lens wearer's iris and the desired enhancement or color change. Thus, the elements can be of any color, including but not limited to any of a variety of shades and shades of blue, green, gray, brown, dark yellow, red, or combinations thereof. Preferred colors of the edge ring include, but are not limited to, any of a variety of shades and shades of black, brown, gray, blue, and dark green.

The bright color elements comprising the surrounding portion can be pure white, nearly white, off-white, light yellow, light blue, light pink, light green, or any combination of the above. Preferably, it is commensurate with no abrupt contrast with the visible portion of the sclera that is not covered by the lens. These colors are preferably obtained by using a higher amount of Ti0 ₂ to produce greater opacity and contrast. Pigments added include, but are not limited to, small amounts of iron oxide black, iron oxide brown, iron oxide yellow, iron oxide red, titanium dioxide, and the like, and combinations thereof to adjust the whitener colored elements. In addition to these pigments, soluble and insoluble dyes can be used including, but not limited to, dichlorotriazine and vinyl anthraquinone dyes. A preferred embodiment is a colorant having 10% to 20% TiO 2 and 80% to 90% clear binder polymer to provide a suitable translucent color.

In general, the coloring elements can be made from any organic or inorganic pigment suitable for use in contact lenses or a combination of such pigments. Opacity can be controlled by varying the concentration of pigment and titanium dioxide used, with higher amounts achieving greater opacity. Exemplary organic pigments include, but are not limited to, phthalocyanine blue, phthalocyanine, carbazole violet, vat orange #1, and the like, and combinations thereof. Examples of useful inorganic pigments include, but are not limited to, iron oxide black, iron oxide brown, iron oxide yellow, iron oxide red, titanium dioxide, and the like, and combinations thereof. In addition to these pigments, soluble and insoluble dyes may be used including, but not limited to, dichlorotriazine and vinyl anthraquinone dyes. Useful dyes and pigments are commercially available.

The selected dye or pigment can be combined with one or more prepolymers or binder polymers, as well as a solvent to form a translucent and opaque layer colorant for use in the production of the lenses of the present invention. Other additives available for contact lens colorants can also be used. Adhesive polymers, solvents, and other additives that can be used in the color layers of the present invention are known, and are commercially available or known in the art for their manufacture.

The element can be applied or printed onto one or more surfaces of the lens or can be printed onto one or more surfaces of the mold where the lens forming material will deposit and solidify in the mold. In a preferred method of forming a design lens comprising the present invention, a thermoplastic optical mold made of any suitable material, including but not limited to cyclic polyolefins and polyolefins, such as polypropylene or polystyrene resins, is used. The component is deposited onto a desired portion of the forming surface of the mold. By "formed surface" is meant the surface of the mold or mold half used to form the surface of the lens. Preferably, the deposition is carried out by pad printing as follows.

A metal plate is coated to become a water-insoluble photoresist material when cured, and the metal plate is preferably made of steel, more preferably stainless steel. The component is selected or designed and then retracted to the desired size using any of a variety of techniques (eg, photoreceptor technology), placed on a metal plate, and cured. The plate is then washed with an aqueous solution and the resulting image is etched onto the plate to a suitable depth, such as about 20 microns. A coloring agent containing a binder polymer, a solvent, and a pigment or dye is then deposited on the element to cause the colorant to fill the recess.

The metal plate can also be laser etched using a suitable soft body and laser to extract the metal containing the preferred image area, thereby producing a replica image recess having a depth of 15 um to 30 um. In addition, laser etching of preferred patterns can occur on other substrates, such as ceramics.

A geometry suitable for printing on a surface and having a variable hardness (typically from about 1 degree to about 10 degrees) is applied to the image on the board to remove the stain and then by evaporation of the solvent. The stain was slowly dried. The mat is then pressed against the mold surface of an optical mold. The mold was allowed to degas for up to 12 hours to remove excess solvent and oxygen, and then fill the mold with lens material. The mold assembly is then completed with a complementary mold half and exposed to mold conditions suitable for curing the lens material used. These conditions are well known in the art and depend on the lens material chosen. Once the curing operation is completed and the lens is released from the mold, it is equilibrated in a buffered saline solution.

In a preferred embodiment, a transparent prepolymer layer is used which covers at least the edge ring and dot pattern and preferably forms the entirety of the outermost surface of the lens. The prepolymer can be any polymer capable of dispersing the pigment used and any opacifying agent. In an alternate embodiment, various patterns or rims can be placed on the lens or lens mold by inkjet printing.

The present invention can be used to provide colored hard or soft contact lenses made of any known lens forming material, or colored hard or soft contact lenses made of materials suitable for making such lenses. Preferably, the spectacles of the present invention are soft contact lenses, and the material selected to form the lens is any material suitable for making soft contact lenses. Preferred materials for forming soft contact lenses using the method of the present invention include, but are not limited to, anthrone elastomers, anthrone-containing macromolecules (wherein non-limiting properties include those disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,371,147, 5,314,960 and No. 5,057,578, the disclosures of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, in the the the the the the the the More preferably, the lens is made of a material containing a siloxane function, including but not limited to polydimethyl siloxane macromolecules, methacryloyloxy propyl polyalkylene oxide Alkane and mixtures thereof, anthrone hydrogel or a hydrogel made of a monomer having a hydroxyl group, a carboxyl group or both. Materials for making soft contact lenses are well known and commercially available. Preferably, the lens material is acquafilcon, genfilcon, lenefilcon, balafilcon, lotrafilcon or galyfilcon. In another embodiment, the lens can be made of a conventional hydrogel material, such as etafilcon.

The invention is further illustrated by the following non-limiting examples.

Instance Example 1: Preparation of a clarified base ink composition

96 g of 1-dodecanethiol ("DODT"), 56.54 g of lauryl methacrylate ("LMA"), 7.40 g of methacrylic acid ("MAA"), 1367 g of hydroxyl methacrylate Ethyl ester ("HEMA"), 68.5 g of glycerin, 378 g of 1-ethoxy-2-propanol ("EP"), 1511 g of isopropyl lactate ("IPL") and 8.89 g of 2, 2'-Azobis(2-methylbutyronitrile) ("AMBN") is made into a bonded polymer. In addition to about 50 to 100 cc of IPL, DODT, monomer and solvent were first added, mixed in a 5 liter blue lid bottle, and stirred for 10 minutes. This mixture was then poured into a 5 liter stainless steel reactor with a stirrer and nitrogen. The mixture was stirred and heated for approximately 25 minutes until the temperature was 68 °C. After the temperature was stabilized at 68 ° C, AMBN was dissolved in the remaining IPL and added when nitrogen purge was turned on. The polymerization was allowed to proceed for 16 to 24 hours, and then the temperature was raised to 80 ° C to complete the reaction. The mixture was then equilibrated to room temperature. By mixing 4 parts of IPL with 1 part of EP, adjust the viscosity of the mixture as needed.

Example 2: Black ink preparation

Preparation of black pad printing ink, weighing 1243.47 g of 1D Black Define (comprised of 11.76% by weight of black iron oxide pigment (FeO‧Fe ₂ O ₃ , CAS # 12227-89-3), soluble in The clear substrate described in Example 1 was placed in a 400 mL glass vial. 6 wt% of 1-propanol was also added to the bottle. The bottle was placed on a blender and mixed at 1800 rpm until the appearance of the ink was homogeneous.

Example 3: Preparation of white ink

Preparation of a white pad printing ink weighing 49.98 g of primary white (composed of 30.00 wt% titanium dioxide pigment (TiO ₂ , CAS # 13463-67-7), dissolved in the clear substrate described in Example 1 ), put in a 250 mL glass bottle. 100.00 g of a clear substrate (described in Example 1) and 6% by weight of 1-propanol were added to the bottle. The bottle was placed on a blender and mixed at 1800 rpm until the appearance of the ink was homogeneous.

The inks described herein are used to produce dyed lenses by methods and apparatus known in the art. For example, it is included in the method described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20090244479, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Example 4: White Scleral Lens Manufacturing - A concave and convex module was formed from polystyrene under ambient conditions (21% oxygen, 25 ° C). The concave module is placed into a dry nitrogen channel (about 180 seconds) in the pad printer. The concave curve was pad printed at 0.5% oxygen, first a 15 μm deep full circle clear substrate composition (15 μm deep clear layer with clear substrate composition from Example 1), followed by a 20 μm depth Black ink composition (20 μm deep edge embossing plate (clich) a patterned layer having the black ink composition from Example 2, followed by a 20 μm deep white circular composition (20 μm deep white circular embossing plate (clich) A patterned layer having the white ink composition from Example 3. The mold was then returned to ambient conditions (21% oxygen, 25 ° C) for about 20 seconds. The concave and convex curves were reconstructed under 2.8% oxygen for about 70 seconds. The printed concave module was then filled with 73 mg of etafilcon A reactive monomer mixture. The convex module is placed on top of a given amount of reactive monomer mixture and given a pre-cured weight (~200 grams) to ensure proper closure of the mold. The pre-cured weight assembly was placed in a pre-cure channel for 75 seconds in the absence of light at 25 ° C to allow the monomer to be drilled into the print layer. The pre-cured weight was removed and the curved surface was placed in a curing channel with temperature control (70 ° C) and light intensity (370 to 440 nm) for about 4 minutes. The closed assembly is demolded, and the lens is removed from the mold and immersed in a deionized water and soil temperature emulsifier (Tween) combination solution at 70 ° C (+/- 5) for a minimum of 60 minutes to filter from the lens. Any uncured monomer or dilution. The lens is then equilibrated, packaged and sterilized in buffered saline.

10. . . center

11. . . Central part

13. . . Edge ring or pattern

20. . . Surrounding area

twenty one. . . Inner diameter

twenty two. . . Surrounding outer diameter

Figure 1 is a front view of a contact lens.

Figure 2 is a front view of a contact lens having a peripheral portion having an opaque, semi-opaque or translucent white to translucent or transparent gradation from the inner diameter to the surrounding outer diameter. The edge ring is also applied to the pattern of the lens.

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of a contact lens having a peripheral portion having an opaque, semi-opaque or translucent white to translucent or transparent gradation from the inner diameter to the surrounding outer diameter. The color is applied in a geometric pattern, such as a grid or radial grid formed by rows and columns of circular transparent portions.

Figure 4 shows a contact lens having an alternative random geometric pattern of the contact lens geometry shown in Figure 3.

10‧‧‧ Center

11‧‧‧ central part

13‧‧‧Edge ring or pattern

20‧‧‧around parts

21‧‧‧ surrounding inner diameter

22‧‧‧ surrounding outer diameter

Claims (19)

A contact lens comprising a center, a central portion disposed around the center portion and a surrounding portion surrounding the central portion; wherein the peripheral portion is affixed with a bright color having a pattern of progressive to transparent outer diameter of the lens, wherein the The bright colored portion is opaque or translucent near the inner diameter of the surrounding portion. The contact lens of claim 1, wherein the bright portion is selected from the group consisting of white, near white, off-white, light yellow, light blue, light pink, light green, and combinations thereof. . For example, in the contact lens of claim 1, the bright portion is grayish white. For example, in the contact lens of claim 1, the bright portion is light pink. For example, in the contact lens of claim 1, the bright portion is light blue. For example, in the contact lens of claim 1, the bright portion is light yellow. For example, in the contact lens of claim 1, the bright portion is light green. A contact lens as claimed in claim 1 which has a natural appearance. The contact lens of claim 1, further comprising a rim ring. A contact lens comprising a center, a central portion disposed around the center portion and a surrounding portion surrounding the central portion; wherein the peripheral portion is affixed with a bright color having a pattern of gradual to transparent to the outer diameter of the lens; The inner diameter of the surrounding portion to the outer diameter of the peripheral portion is a bright portion from opaque to semi-opaque to translucent to transparent gradation. A contact lens according to claim 1 which has a colored portion which substantially corresponds to the lens portion covering the wearer's iris when the lens is on the eye. A contact lens according to claim 11 further comprising a rim ring. The contact lens of claim 1, wherein the surrounding portion is colored according to a geometric pattern. The contact lens of claim 1, wherein the surrounding portion is colored according to a random pattern. A method of manufacturing a contact lens comprising a center, a central portion disposed around the center and a surrounding portion surrounding the central portion; wherein the peripheral portion is glazed with a pattern that tapers toward the outer diameter of the lens to a transparent pattern, and wherein The pattern is printed on the lens, wherein the bright portion is opaque or translucent near the inner diameter of the surrounding portion. A contact lens according to claim 15 wherein the bright color pattern is applied by pad printing. A contact lens according to claim 15 wherein the bright color pattern is applied by ink jet printing. The contact lens of claim 15, wherein the bright color pattern is applied by photolithography. A method of enhancing the appearance of a contact lens wearer by providing a center, a central portion surrounding the center and a surrounding portion disposed around the central portion and having a bright color, having a gradual to transparent outer diameter of the lens A patterned contact lens in which the bright colored portion is opaque or translucent near the inner diameter of the surrounding portion.