A lens comprises an internal cavity structure formed by dissolution of a soluble insert material. The internal soluble material may dissolve through a body of a lens such as a contact lens in order to form the cavity within the contact lens. The cavity within the lens can be shaped in many ways, and corresponds to the shape of the dissolved material, such that many internal cavity shapes can be readily fabricated within the contact lens. The insert can be placed in a mold with a pre-polymer material, and the pre-polymer material cured with the insert placed in the mold to form the lens body. The polymerized polymer may comprise a low expansion polymer in order to inhibit expansion of the lens when hydrated. The polymer may comprise a hydrogel when hydrated. The soft contact lens material comprises a sufficient amount of cross-linking to provide structure to the lens and shape the cavity.

A modular production line for the production of contact lenses comprises at least three separate modules: a manufacturing module (MM), an inspection module (IM), and a packaging module (PP). The modular production line further comprises fixedly arranged transfer interfaces between the individual modules (MM, IM, PP) for transferring the lenses from a preceding module to a subsequent module. The manufacturing module (MM) comprises a plurality of manufacturing stations (300, 301, 302, 310, 320, 321, 322, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 350, 351, 352) which are grouped to form a plurality of individual manufacturing units (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) arranged in a closed loop. Reusable male and female molds (212, 112) are transported through the manufacturing stations of the manufacturing units, and each manufacturing unit (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) comprises a plurality of the manufacturing stations (300, 301, 302, 310, 320, 321, 322, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 350, 351, 352). A plurality of transfer robots (36) is provided, each transfer robot (36) of the plurality of transfer robots (36) being arranged at a location between two manufacturing units (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) to transfer the reusable molds from one manufacturing unit to the other manufacturing unit.

A device comprises a surface that is a hydrogel having a targeted mesh size that permits a low-speed friction coefficient near or lower that that typically reported for cartilage of 0.01 to 0.02, a transition. The device can be a contact lens to sit on the cornea where, during a blink, eyelid slides past the eye surface at about 100 mm s.sup.1. The hydrodynamic lubrication of the hydrogel of the device separates the contact lens surface from the surfaces of the tarsal conjunctiva and marginal conjunctiva of the eyelid. Other devices that can comprise the hydrogel of a targeted mesh size are those that can contact cartilage of articulating joints.

Provided is a contact lens for correction of color weakness including an optical zone, wherein the optical zone includes an acrylic polymer, and a micro-pattern in which a plurality of photonic crystal structures included in the acrylic polymer are dispersed. The contact lens for correction of color weakness is capable of distinguishing colors.

A method of manufacturing of an astigmatic contact lens having a toric portion and a thickness differential feature to provide lens orientation on eye portion such that said thickness differential causes the toric portion of the contact lens to properly orient in the eye of the wearer. The toric lenses are manufactured by an effective process control method for cylinder power in toric lens production by determining an amount of a mold cylinder compensation which is caused by processes in a toric lens manufacturing system including tool making, injection molding, casting and curing, wherein the mold cylinder is defined as the difference in measured radius of curvature at two orthogonal directions. A control metric is established by using the amount of a mold cylinder compensation and tolerance range and reject mold out of the control limits and improve the production yield for toric lens manufacturing.

A method for cleaning a molding surface (51) of a reusable lens mold (5), in particular of a reusable lens mold (5) for molding ophthalmic lenses such as soft contact lenses, comprising the steps of: generating a jet (3) of deionized water, exposing the molding surface (51) of the reusable lens mold (5) to the jet (3) of deionized water,
wherein the jet (3) of deionized water has a circular full cone spray pattern and impinges on the molding surface (51) of the reusable lens mold (5), and wherein the circular full cone spray pattern has a uniform distribution of the volume flow of deionized water over the base of the cone of the circular full cone spray pattern.

A method of removing a liquid from a container (1) for accommodating an ophthalmic contact lens, in particular a soft contact lens, during transporting the container (1) from a liquid bath (13) to a subsequent processing station (14), the method including the steps of: transporting the container (1) from the liquid bath to the subsequent processing station, generating suction (20), and applying the suction (20) to a bottom (11) of the container (1) during the step of transporting the container (1) from the liquid bath to the subsequent processing station, thereby removing the liquid from the container (1).

An optical device comprising a lens configured to be disposed in an eye. The lens is configured to contact a sclera of the eye and have a clearance above a cornea of the eye when disposed in the eye. The lens comprises a back surface that comprises at least one non-symmetrical feature that is configured to engage a corresponding feature on the eye. The lens is configured to be rotationally stable in use based on the at least one non-symmetrical feature on the back surface of the lens.

A method of cleaning deposited material from a molding surface (10) of a mold (1) for forming ophthalmic lenses, including bringing a cleaning head (20) into contact with the molding surface (10), the rotational axis (22) of the cleaning head (20) being arranged normal to the molding surface (10), rotating (220) the cleaning head (20) around the rotational axis (22) while maintaining the contact between the cleaning head (20) and the molding surface (10), moving the cleaning head (20) to perform a precession motion (110) around a central normal (11) on the molding surface (10), while rotating (220) the cleaning head (20) around the rotational axis (22) and while maintaining the contact between the cleaning head (20) and the molding surface (10). During the precession motion (110) the rotational axis (22) includes an inclination angle (1,2) with the central normal (11) on the molding surface (10).

An optical device comprising a lens configured to be disposed in an eye. The lens is configured to contact a sclera of the eye and have a clearance above a cornea of the eye when disposed in the eye. The lens comprises a back surface that comprises at least one non-symmetrical feature that is configured to engage a corresponding feature on the eye. The lens is configured to be rotationally stable in use based on the at least one non-symmetrical feature on the back surface of the lens.