Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it has become the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses, using a process it calls Light-Form Technology. According to the company, the method forms a complete lens from a single flash of light in a few seconds, and lenses produced this way are already being sold to consumers.
The approach departs from conventional surfacing and from layer-by-layer additive manufacturing. There is no gradual build-up of material, and the lens skips the generating and polishing stages that traditional lens production depends on. IOT describes the output as prescription lenses made at commercial optical quality.
How the process forms a lens
Light-Form is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. Instead of shaping a lens from a blank, the process cures the entire volume of the lens in a single pass, a forming stage that takes seconds. Finishing work follows before the lens is complete: unused resin is recovered to limit waste, the surface is hardened, and the lens is mapped.
IOT argues that a new production route for personalized progressive lenses has to reproduce the intended optical design precisely, not merely produce a recognizable shape. The company says Light-Form pairs the design freedom of digital manufacturing with those demanding optical requirements, which it says opens more options for future lens architectures and individualized designs.
“Light-Form demonstrates how scientific research can change the way ophthalmic lenses are made,” said José Alonso, co-founder and CINO of IOT. He added that combining optical precision with a new production method could help optical partners create personalized products, test new lens architectures and run more flexible manufacturing.
Resource use and the production chain
IOT says the method is considerably lighter on resources than conventional lens manufacturing. Compared with traditional methods, it uses no water during manufacturing, requires 90% less energy and generates 76% less waste. The company notes that these figures cover the manufacturing stage only.
IOT presents Light-Form as a way to redesign the production chain rather than simply a faster forming step. Larger installations could run several printing heads to raise output without consuming much floor space. Further ahead, the company envisions compact machines producing custom lenses inside optical stores, placing production next to the customer and reducing the need to hold stock.
“The value lies in rethinking the production workflow,” said Carolina Gago, COO of IOT. “Resin recovery and lower water and energy requirements address how resources are used, while compact equipment could support production closer to consumers. We are working to translate these capabilities into practical manufacturing options.”
For optical laboratories, that could mean organizing capacity around demand in their area instead of relying solely on centralized surfacing equipment. For wearers, IOT says the long-term benefit would be faster access to lenses made for them, while optical partners would remain central to vision correction and customer service.
Smart glasses and a wider field of lens printing
IOT is also looking beyond conventional spectacles. One option under development is printing prescription optics directly onto waveguides and flat substrates used in smart glasses and augmented reality headsets, which the company says could make such devices thinner and lighter. IOT also suggests that custom optical shapes could eventually be useful in virtual reality.
Other groups have been pursuing additive manufacturing for eyewear. Luxexcel, an early example in prescription lenses, built lenses layer by layer in a material jetting process — a contrast with IOT's single-exposure cure. Luxexcel's platform could print single vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs, and the company embedded waveguides into prescription lenses for smart glasses, the same direction IOT is now exploring. Meta later acquired Luxexcel as part of its AR technology work.
More recently the approach has moved into point-of-care contact lenses. A team at the University of Waterloo has developed a system that 3D prints custom contact lenses in roughly 20 minutes, raising the prospect that a patient could be measured, have a lens designed and leave a clinic wearing it in a single visit. The work earned a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
IOT says its personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers, positioning Light-Form as a production method meant to compete with conventional surfacing infrastructure rather than remain a laboratory demonstration.