Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it is the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses. Its Light-Form Technology forms a complete lens from a single flash of light in a few seconds, and IOT says lenses made this way are already on sale to consumers. The process does not build lenses layer by layer, and it skips the generating and polishing steps used in conventional lens surfacing.
The company is presenting Light-Form as more than a faster forming step. It says the method could change how lens production is organized, moving some capacity closer to the wearer rather than relying only on centralized surfacing equipment. The resource figures and optical-quality claims are company-reported.
How the lens is formed
Light-Form is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. A single light exposure cures the whole volume of the lens instead of gradually shaping it from a blank. IOT says this forming stage takes seconds. Finishing steps follow: unused resin is recovered to limit waste, the lens 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 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.
José Alonso, co-founder and CINO of IOT, said the technology 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, test new lens architectures and run more flexible manufacturing.
Resource use and local production
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 says these figures cover the manufacturing stage only.
The production model is part of the pitch. IOT says larger installations could use several printing heads to increase output without taking up much floor space. Further ahead, it sees compact machines making custom lenses inside optical stores, which would place production next to the customer and reduce 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 says it is working to translate these capabilities into practical manufacturing options.
For optical laboratories, this could mean organizing capacity around local demand 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. The company says 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.
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 require around 30 steps, large inventories and high wastage; Luxexcel instead built lenses 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 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 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 personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers.