Contact Lens Surface Customization for Residual Aberration Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing contact lenses do not effectively address higher-order aberrations, and current customization processes are inefficient, requiring two lenses and imposing significant limitations on manufacturers, doctors, and patients.
Innovation Solution
A method to customize a pre-manufactured contact lens by evaluating its conformance to a user's eye profile, altering its optical properties using an ophthalmic contact lens lathe, and integrating residual aberration correction without producing a second lens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If custom lenses are manufactured with integrated higher-order aberration correction, then optical performance is improved, but the manufacturing process becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process is divided into two independent stages: first, mass-producing standard spherical or sphero-cylindrical lenses with proven fit and comfort characteristics; second, separately customizing the lens surface to correct higher-order aberrations. This segmentation allows the optical customization to be done without redesigning the entire lens manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens base design, material selection, and fit characteristics are predetermined and pre-manufactured in the first stage. This preliminary action establishes a reliable foundation that can be reused across multiple patients, while only the surface customization needs to be performed individually for each patient's aberration profile.
2Manufacturing precision
If custom lenses are manufactured with integrated higher-order aberration correction, then vision quality is improved, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The production process is segmented so that the time-consuming customization is limited only to the surface modification stage, while the bulk of lens production (material casting, basic shaping, quality control) is completed in advance as standardized components. This dramatically reduces the time required to deliver custom lenses to patients.
Solution Approach 2:
The lens surface parameters are dynamically adjusted based on each patient's measured aberration profile. By changing only the surface curvature parameters through localized material removal or deposition, the system achieves custom optical correction without needing to re-manufacture the entire lens from scratch.
3Manufacturing precision
If all optical power is integrated into lens design prior to manufacture, then optical performance is optimized, but adaptability to different patients is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The lens system transitions from a static, fully-pre-determined design to a dynamic system where the base lens remains standardized but the surface characteristics can be adapted to each patient's specific needs. This allows the same base lens design to serve multiple patients with different aberration profiles.
Solution Approach 2:
A single standardized lens base design serves multiple functions: it provides the fundamental optical correction for spherical and cylindrical errors, ensures proper fit and comfort on the eye, and serves as a platform for subsequent customization to correct higher-order aberrations. This universal base design can be applied across a wide range of patients.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to methods of customizing a pre-manufactured contact lens for a user by evaluating the conformance of a pre-manufactured contact lens to the user's eye profile (e.g., quantifying eye aberrations of the user's eye profile while the lens is worn) and conforming one or more optical properties of the pre-manufactured contact lens or a duplicate thereof to the user's eye profile based on the evaluation. In some embodiments, the conforming includes mounting the pre-manufactured contact lens on a contact lens mount and altering one or more optical properties of the pre-manufactured contact lens on the contact lens mount. Additional embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to systems for customizing a contact lens. Such systems include a convex contact lens mount with a base area operational for anchoring the convex contact lens mount, and a convex surface operational to mount the pre-manufactured contact lens.