Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it is the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses. Its Light-Form Technology uses a single flash of light to create a complete lens in a few seconds, and the company says lenses made this way are already on sale to consumers. The process does not build a lens layer by layer, and it skips the generating and polishing steps that conventional surfacing relies on.
A single-pass forming process
Light-Form is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. According to IOT, light cures the whole volume of the lens in one pass instead of shaping it gradually from a blank. That forming stage takes seconds. Several finishing steps follow before the lens is complete: unused resin is recovered to limit waste, the surface is hardened, and the lens is mapped.
IOT says a new production method for personalized progressive lenses must precisely reproduce the intended optical design, not merely produce a recognizable shape. The company says Light-Form combines the design freedom of digital manufacturing with these optical requirements, allowing additive manufacturing to produce prescription lenses at commercial optical quality. It adds that the approach could open more options for future lens architectures and individualized solutions.
Resource use and production layout
IOT says the method is much 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.
IOT presents Light-Form as a way to redesign the production chain, not just a faster forming step. Larger installations could use 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. That would put production next to the customer and reduce the need to hold stock.
Carolina Gago, IOT's COO, said the value lies in rethinking the production workflow. She said resin recovery and lower water and energy requirements address how resources are used, while compact equipment could support production closer to consumers. IOT says it is working to translate these capabilities into practical manufacturing options.
For optical laboratories, the company says this could mean organizing capacity around demand in their area instead of relying only on centralized surfacing equipment. For wearers, IOT describes the long-term benefit as faster access to lenses made for them. The company adds that optical partners would still play the central role in vision correction and customer service.
Beyond conventional spectacles
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 could make those devices thinner and lighter. The company also suggests that custom optical shapes could eventually be useful in virtual reality.
The company is presenting Light-Form as a change to how lens production is organized. It plans to replace reliance on conventional surfacing infrastructure with production set up around local demand, and it sees in-store manufacturing as a possible way to bring personalized lenses closer to the wearer.
Other projects in the 3D printing sector are also using digital manufacturing for vision correction. Luxexcel was an early example in prescription eyewear, building lenses layer by layer in a material jetting process. Its platform could print single vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs, and the company also embedded waveguides into prescription lenses for smart glasses. Meta later acquired Luxexcel as part of its AR technology efforts.
More recently, a team at the University of Waterloo 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 one visit. The work earned a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
These projects show additive manufacturing moving into optical production. IOT says its Light-Form personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers.