A new class of silicone monomers, providing transparent materials and imparting hydrophilic properties have been developed. These materials are incorporated into ophthalmic devices such as soft and rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses. These new silicone monomers include Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) with two polymerizable groups and six organofunctional groups. These types of structures incorporate at least two available sites for polymerization allowing for the incorporation of the silsesquioxane cage into the backbone of a macromolecule. Additional functional sites allow the design of specific chemical features which address needed material properties.

Optical devices with different regions or pixels can form an image. An opaque-region 14 can be used to separate different pixels. Sometimes the optical device needs to be flexible, for elongation or stretching onto a curved surface. But, the opaque-region 14 can be damaged as it is stretched. A flexible optical device can include a modified opaque-region 14 for improved flexibility. The opaque-region 14 can include a thin-film 12 with multiple cavities 13, multiple zones 63, or both. Each zone 63 can have a shape optimized to both block incoming light and for flexibility. Each zone 63 can be encircled and separated from adjacent zones 63 by a groove 62. The cavities 13 and the separate zones 63 can allow the opaque-region 14 to bend or stretch without cracking or delamination of the thin-film 12.

A scleral contact lens has a core containing an optical filter. The core and/or the optical filter may comprise oxygen impermeable material, such that an overall oxygen permeability of the core is insufficient to oxygenate a user's cornea when wearing the contact lens. To provide oxygenation to the user's cornea, the contact lens further comprises an outer covering, and an inner covering, each corresponding to a thin layer of gas-permeable material shaped to form a respective manifold between the covering and the core. Oxygen from an outside environment passes through the outer covering to reach the outer manifold, through an air path formed within the core to the inner manifold, and through the inner covering to reach the cornea of the user's eye.

The invention relates to an ophthalmic product which comprises a sealed and autoclave-sterilized lens package including (1) a post-autoclave packaging solution containing a polymeric surfactant having an HLB value of from about 11 to about 16 and a Mn of from about 800 to about 20,000 Daltons and (2) a readily-usable silicone hydrogel (SiHy) contact lens immersed in the packaging solution. The readily-usable SiHy contact lens comprises the polymeric surfactant thereon providing an excellent wettability to the readily-usable SiHy contact lens directly out of the lens package, and also the leachable polymeric surfactant which is physically distributed in the polymer matrix of the SiHy contact lens and can be released to the eye of a patient for at least 7 days of daily wear and to replenish the lens surface-bound polymeric surfactant to provide sustainable wettabilities to the contact lens and the eye.

The present invention generally relates to a method for applying a coating of hydrophilic polymers onto polyvinylalcohol-based hydrogel contact lenses to improve lubricity. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method for forming a coating on a contact lens, preferably a polyvinylalcohol-based hydrogel contact lens, directly in the primary package and maintaining the coated contact lens within said primary package until insertion of the coated contact lens in the eye of the contact lens user. The resultant polyvinylalcohol-based hydrogel contact lens has a coating with improved lubricity and good durability and also can be used directly from the lens package by a patient without washing and/or rinsing.

The present invention generally relates to a method for applying a coating of hydrophilic polymers onto polyvinylalcohol-based hydrogel contact lenses to improve lubricity. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method for forming a coating on a contact lens, preferably a polyvinylalcohol-based hydrogel contact lens, directly in the primary package and maintaining the coated contact lens within said primary package until insertion of the coated contact lens in the eye of the contact lens user. The resultant polyvinylalcohol-based hydrogel contact lens has a coating with improved lubricity and good durability and also can be used directly from the lens package by a patient without washing and/or rinsing.

Disclosed are: a polymer for treating the surface of a medical device such as a contact lens to suppress the reduction in lubricity of the device even when the device is scrubbed; a medical device having the polymer on the surface so that the reduction in lubricity over time is suppressed; and a wetting agent containing the polymer. The polymer for treating the surface is a copolymer which is water-soluble and includes as constitutional units the following monomers A and B: monomer A: a monomer containing a (meth)acryloyl group and an ester or amide structure in a molecule, in which the ester or amide structure is not constituted by including a part of the (meth)acryloyl group; monomer B: a monomer containing a (meth)acrylamide group in a molecule and having a structure different from that of the monomer A.

Disclosed are: a polymer for treating the surface of a medical device such as a contact lens to suppress the reduction in lubricity of the device even when the device is scrubbed; a medical device having the polymer on the surface so that the reduction in lubricity over time is suppressed; and a wetting agent containing the polymer. The polymer for treating the surface is a copolymer which is water-soluble and includes as constitutional units the following monomers A and B: monomer A: a monomer containing a (meth)acryloyl group and an ester or amide structure in a molecule, in which the ester or amide structure is not constituted by including a part of the (meth)acryloyl group; monomer B: a monomer containing a (meth)acrylamide group in a molecule and having a structure different from that of the monomer A.

The invention is directed to a colored cosmetic photochromic contact lens, comprising: a pupil section, a generally annular iris section surrounding the pupil section, wherein at least the pupil section is photochromic, wherein the iris section having a colored, printed, opaque, intermittent pattern, wherein the said pattern is covered by a clear ink layer, wherein the clear ink layer is on outer surface of lens to the observer.

The invention provides a thermal cast-molding method for producing colored silicone hydrogel contact lenses. The method of the invention comprises: (1) forming, on a molding surface of a mold, a transferable colored polymeric composite film which comprises or consists essentially of a first polymeric film, a second polymeric film and a cured colored image encapsulated therewithin; (2) dispensing a silicone hydrogel lens formulation into the lens-forming cavity of the mold; and (4) thermally curing the third polymerizable composition within the lens-forming cavity for at least about 40 minutes to form the colored silicone hydrogel contact lens, whereby the transferable, colored, and polymeric composite film detaches from the first or second molding surface and becomes integral with the body of the silicone hydrogel contact lens.