Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it is the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses, using a process it calls Light-Form Technology that forms a complete lens from a single flash of light in a few seconds. According to the company, lenses produced this way are already on sale to consumers.
The method departs from the layer-by-layer build familiar in additive manufacturing. The full volume of the lens is cured in one pass, and the lens skips the generating and polishing steps that conventional surfacing depends on. IOT presents the output as prescription lenses made at commercial optical quality.
A lens formed in seconds
Light-Form is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. Light cures the whole volume of the lens in a single pass rather than shaping it gradually from a blank, and that forming stage takes seconds. Several finishing steps follow before a 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 these demanding optical requirements, and that this opens further options for future lens architectures and individualized solutions.
José Alonso, co-founder and CINO of IOT, said the technology shows how scientific research can change the way ophthalmic lenses are made. He added that combining optical precision with a new production method could help optical partners create personalized products, try out new lens architectures and run more flexible manufacturing.
Resource use in manufacturing
IOT says the process is considerably lighter on resources than traditional lens production. Compared with conventional methods, it uses no water in manufacturing, needs 90% less energy and produces 76% less waste. The company notes that these figures cover the manufacturing stage only.
Rethinking where lenses are made
IOT frames the technology as a way to redesign the production chain rather than simply a faster forming step. Larger installations could run several printing heads to increase output without taking up much floor space. Further ahead, the company sees compact machines making custom lenses inside optical stores, which would place production next to the customer and cut the need to hold stock.
Carolina Gago, COO of IOT, said the value lies in rethinking the production workflow, noting that resin recovery and lower water and energy requirements address how resources are used while compact equipment could support production closer to consumers. She said the company is working to turn these capabilities into practical manufacturing options.
For optical laboratories, that could mean organizing capacity around demand in their own area instead of relying only 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 keep the central role in vision correction and customer service.
Beyond conventional spectacles
IOT is also looking past conventional spectacles. One option under development is printing prescription optics directly onto the waveguides and flat substrates used in smart glasses and augmented reality headsets, which could make those devices thinner and lighter. The company also suggests that custom optical shapes could eventually be useful in virtual reality.
Additive manufacturing moves into optics
Other projects in the 3D printing sector have pursued similar goals. Luxexcel was an early example in prescription eyewear: conventional prescription lenses tend to be made through a process of around 30 steps, which requires large inventories and yields high wastage, whereas Luxexcel built lenses up layer by layer in a material jetting process and could print single vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs. It also embedded waveguides into prescription lenses for smart glasses, a direction IOT is now exploring; Meta later acquired Luxexcel as part of its AR technology efforts.
More recently, the approach has reached 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 after a single visit. The work earned a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
Together these projects show additive manufacturing moving into optical production. IOT says its Light-Form personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers.