Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it is the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses. Its Light-Form process forms a complete lens with a single flash of light in a few seconds, and IOT says lenses produced this way are already on sale to consumers.
A single-exposure forming step
The approach does not build lenses layer by layer. Light-Form relies on stabilized frontal photopolymerization: instead of shaping a lens gradually from a blank, the process cures the full volume in one pass, a forming stage that IOT says takes seconds. Finishing steps follow: unused resin is recovered, the surface is hardened, and the lens is mapped. IOT says the method skips the generating and polishing steps used in conventional surfacing.
According to IOT, a production method for personalized progressive lenses must reproduce the intended optical design precisely, not merely create a recognizable shape. The company says Light-Form combines digital manufacturing’s design freedom with those optical requirements, allowing additive manufacturing to produce prescription lenses at commercial optical quality.
Compared with conventional lens production, IOT says Light-Form uses no water in manufacturing, requires 90% less energy and generates 76% less waste. The company says those figures cover the manufacturing stage only.
Production closer to the wearer
IOT frames the technology as a way to reorganize the production chain rather than simply speed up one forming step. Larger installations could use several print heads to raise output without a large floor footprint. Further ahead, IOT sees compact machines making custom lenses inside optical stores, placing production near 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 resource use, while compact equipment could support production closer to consumers. IOT says it is working to turn 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 describes faster access to lenses made for them as a long-term benefit. IOT says optical partners would remain central to vision correction and customer service.
Beyond conventional spectacles
IOT is also investigating printing prescription optics directly onto waveguides and flat substrates used in smart glasses and augmented reality headsets, an approach the company says could make those devices thinner and lighter. It also suggests custom optical shapes could eventually be useful in virtual reality.
The company is not the only group pursuing additive manufacturing for vision correction. Luxexcel, an early prescription eyewear example later acquired by Meta, 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. More recently, a University of Waterloo team developed a system that 3D prints custom contact lenses in about 20 minutes, raising the prospect of a patient being measured, having a lens designed and leaving a clinic wearing it after one visit. The work received a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
IOT says its personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers, while the broader projects show additive manufacturing moving further into optical production.