Lens having an optically controlled peripheral portion and a method for designing and manufacturing the lens

Abstract

A contact lens or phakic IOC lens is provided with a peripheral portion that has a power profile that provides optical control of peripheral vision images. Typically, the central portion of the lens is also provided with optical control. The power profile of the lens at the boundary of the central and peripheral portions meets certain boundary conditions that ensure that the lens provides a desired or selected vision correction. Because the peripheral portion of the lens provides optical control that defocuses the peripheral vision image relative to the retina, the lens can be used to prevent or inhibit growth of the eye, thereby preventing or inhibiting myopia or the effects of myopia.

Description

[0001]This application claims the benefits under 35 USC 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 60 / 828,793 filed Oct. 10, 2006 and 60 / 829,055 filed Oct. 11, 2006, herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The invention relates to contact lenses and phakic intraocular (IOC) lenses used to provide vision correction. More particularly, the invention relates to providing contact lenses and phakic IOC lenses with peripheral portions that are optically controlled.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]A contact lens is a thin plastic or glass lens that is fitted over the cornea of the eye to correct vision defects. Various types of contact lenses exist that are designed to treat various types of vision defects. A phakic IOC lens is a lens that is implanted behind a person's cornea and works in conjunction with the natural crystalline lens of the eye to provide vision correction. Phakic IOC lenses are typically made of a material called...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018]The invention also provides a method for providing a lens that prevents or inhibits eye growth that leads to myopia. The method comprises selecting a power profile for a peripheral portion of a lens to be designed, and producing a design of a lens that has a peripheral portion that provides optical control based on the selected power profile. The power profile of the peripheral portion optically controls a location at which a peripheral vision image is focused relative to a retina of an eye. The lens design also includes a central portion having a power profile that optically controls a location at which a center vision image is focused relative to the retina of the eye.

Problems solved by technology

Soft contact lenses are not designed to provide optical control over the peripheral portions of the lenses because the peripheral portions do not affect the central vision of the eye.

This blending portion does not designed to provide optical control, and therefore does not provide vision correction except in cases where the pupils of the eye are small.

Therefore, the effects that these light rays produce on the vision system are limited by the ability of the central portion of the lens to provide the necessary optical control.

However, because the peripheral portion of the lens is used to stabilize the lens and to fit the lens to the surface of the eyeball, and is normally the same for every lens of a given lens series, the peripheral portion is normally not designed to provide optical control.

If the peripheral portion were to be designed to provide optical control, it could not be kept the same for an entire lens series.

Consequently, the traditional view in the soft contact lens industry is that because central vision is most important, and because providing the peripheral portion of the lens with optical control would require that different lenses of the same series be manufactured with different peripheral portions, it is undesirable to design contact lenses to have peripheral portions that provide optical control.

Furthermore, increasing the diameter of the optical zone of a contact lens presents certain problems that would need to be solved by the contact lens industry.

This presents even greater difficulties in terms of lens design and manufacture.

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