Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it is the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses, using a process it calls Light-Form that forms a complete lens from a single flash of light in a few seconds. Lenses made this way are already on sale to consumers, according to the company.
The method does not build lenses layer by layer, and it skips the generating and polishing steps that conventional surfacing depends on. IOT presents the development as a change to how prescription lenses are produced, not only a faster forming stage.
Curing an entire lens in one pass
Light-Form is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. Rather than shaping a lens gradually from a blank, the process cures the whole volume of the lens in a single pass, and that forming stage takes seconds. Finishing then follows: unused resin is recovered to limit waste, the surface is hardened, and the lens is mapped.
IOT argues that any new production route for personalized progressive lenses must reproduce the intended optical design precisely rather than merely producing a recognizable shape. The company says Light-Form pairs the design freedom of digital manufacturing with those optical requirements, so that additive manufacturing can deliver prescription lenses at what it calls commercial optical quality. It adds that the approach could widen options for future lens architectures and individualized solutions.
“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, try out new lens architectures and run more flexible manufacturing.
Resource claims and a rethought production chain
IOT says the process is far lighter on resources than traditional lens production. Compared with conventional methods, it reports no water use in manufacturing, 90% less energy consumption and 76% less waste, adding that the figures cover the manufacturing stage only.
The company also frames Light-Form as a way to reorganize production rather than a quicker forming step. Larger installations could run several printing heads to raise output without occupying much floor space, while compact machines could eventually make 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. She said resin recovery and lower water and energy requirements address how resources are used, while compact equipment could support production closer to consumers, and that the company is working to turn these capabilities into practical manufacturing options.
For optical laboratories, that could mean organizing capacity around demand in their region instead of relying solely on centralized surfacing equipment. For wearers, IOT says the long-term benefit is faster access to lenses made for them. The company says optical partners would keep the central role in vision correction and customer service.
Smart glasses and AR on the roadmap
IOT is also looking beyond 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 such devices thinner and lighter. The company also suggests that custom optical shapes could eventually be useful in virtual reality.
Additive manufacturing meets optical production
Other projects have taken digital manufacturing into vision correction. Luxexcel built prescription lenses layer by layer in a material jetting process, an alternative to the roughly 30-step conventional route that requires large inventories and yields high wastage, and its platform could print single vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs. The company also embedded waveguides in prescription lenses for smart glasses, a direction IOT is now exploring, and was later acquired by Meta as part of its AR technology efforts.
More recently, a University of Waterloo team developed a system that 3D prints custom contact lenses in roughly 20 minutes, raising the prospect of a patient being measured, fitted with a designed lens and walking out within a single clinic visit. The work earned a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
IOT’s optical quality and resource-savings figures come from the company, and the article offers no independent verification of lens performance or production economics, nor a timeline for in-store machines.