Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it is the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses with a process called Light-Form, which forms a complete lens in a few seconds using a single flash of light. The company says lenses made this way are already on sale to consumers.
Unlike layer-by-layer additive manufacturing, Light-Form does not build a lens in successive layers. It skips the generating and polishing steps that conventional lens surfacing depends on, according to IOT.
How Light-Form works
IOT describes the process as based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. Instead of shaping a lens gradually from a blank, light cures the whole volume in one pass. The 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 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 demanding optical requirements, so additive manufacturing can produce prescription lenses at commercial optical quality. It adds that the method could open more options for future lens architectures and individualized solutions.
José Alonso, co-founder and CINO of IOT, said Light-Form demonstrates how scientific research can change the way ophthalmic lenses are made. He added that pairing 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 and production footprint
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 points out that these figures cover the manufacturing stage only.
Rethinking where lenses are made
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, putting production next to the customer and reducing the need to hold stock.
Carolina Gago, COO of IOT, 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 is working to translate these capabilities into practical manufacturing options.
For optical laboratories, this could mean organizing capacity around demand in their area instead of relying only 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 still play the central role in vision correction and customer service.
Smart glasses and other optical applications
IOT is 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 these devices thinner and lighter. The company also suggests that custom optical shapes could eventually be useful in virtual reality.
Additive manufacturing versus conventional lens production
IOT presents Light-Form as a change to how lens production is organized, not only a new way to form lenses. The company plans to replace reliance on conventional surfacing infrastructure with production set up around local demand. It also sees in-store manufacturing as a possible way to bring personalized lenses closer to the wearer.
Other projects in the 3D printing sector also use digital manufacturing to make vision correction more personalized and on demand. Luxexcel was an early example in prescription eyewear. Conventional prescription lenses tend to require around 30 manufacturing steps, large inventories and high wastage. Luxexcel instead built lenses layer by layer in a material jetting process, and its platform could print single vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs. It also 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 efforts.
More recently, the approach has moved into point-of-care contact lenses. A University of Waterloo team 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 walk out wearing it after one clinic 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 Light-Form's personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers.