Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it has become the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses, using a process called Light-Form that creates a complete lens from a single flash of light in a few seconds. According to IOT, the lenses are already on sale to consumers.
The method differs from both conventional lens surfacing and layer-by-layer additive manufacturing. IOT says Light-Form does not build a lens in successive layers, and it skips the generating and polishing steps on which conventional surfacing depends. Instead, the lens is formed in one exposure before finishing.
One exposure, then finishing
The process is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. Light cures the whole volume of the lens in one pass, rather than shaping it gradually from a blank. IOT says the forming stage takes seconds. Finishing then includes recovering unused resin to limit waste, hardening the surface and mapping the lens.
IOT argues that a new production method for personalized progressive lenses must precisely reproduce the intended optical design, not merely create a recognizable shape. The company says Light-Form combines the design freedom of digital manufacturing with those optical requirements, allowing additive manufacturing to produce prescription lenses at commercial optical quality. IOT adds that the approach could open more 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 pairing optical precision with a new production method could help optical partners create personalized products, test new lens architectures and run more flexible manufacturing.
IOT says the method is much lighter on resources than traditional lens production. Compared with conventional methods, it says Light-Form 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.
Production footprint and development plans
IOT presents the technology 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, according to the company. Further ahead, IOT sees compact machines making custom lenses inside optical stores, putting production closer 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, IOT says this could mean organizing capacity around local demand instead of relying only on centralized surfacing equipment. For wearers, the company says the long-term benefit would be faster access to lenses made for them. IOT says optical partners would still play the central role in vision correction and customer service.
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.
IOT is not the first to pursue digital manufacturing for prescription eyewear. Luxexcel built lenses layer by layer in a material jetting process, an approach intended to avoid the roughly 30-step conventional process and its associated inventory and waste. Its platform could print single-vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs, and it embedded waveguides into prescription lenses for smart glasses. Meta later acquired Luxexcel as part of its AR technology efforts. IOT is now exploring a similar direction, though with a different, single-exposure forming method.
More recently, the approach has moved into point-of-care contact lenses. A University of Waterloo team developed a system that 3D prints custom contact lenses in about 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, while its broader production and smart-glasses concepts remain development plans. The distinction matters: the company has presented a commercial lens claim and a set of manufacturing changes, but the in-store and waveguide applications are described as possibilities under development rather than established deployments.