IOT, a Spanish ophthalmic technology company, says it has become 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 the company says lenses made this way are already on sale to consumers.
The approach departs from both conventional surfacing and from layer-by-layer additive methods. There is no gradual build-up of material, and the lens skips the generating and polishing steps on which conventional lens production depends.
How Light-Form forms a lens
The process is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. A single pass of light cures the entire volume of the lens instead of shaping it progressively from a blank, and that 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 argues that any new production route for personalized progressive lenses must reproduce the intended optical design precisely, not merely produce a recognizable shape. The company says Light-Form combines the design freedom of digital manufacturing with those demanding optical requirements, so that additive manufacturing can deliver prescription lenses at commercial optical quality, and that this opens 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, 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.
Carolina Gago, COO of IOT, framed the value as a question of workflow rather than forming speed alone. “The value lies in rethinking the production workflow,” she said, adding that resin recovery and lower water and energy requirements address how resources are used, while compact equipment could support production closer to consumers. She said the company is working to translate these capabilities into practical manufacturing options.
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, which would put production next to the customer and cut the need to hold stock.
For optical laboratories, that 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, while optical partners would still play the central role in vision correction and customer service.
Smart glasses on the development roadmap
IOT is also looking beyond conventional spectacles. One option under development is printing prescription optics straight onto the 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 optical production
IOT is presenting Light-Form as a change to how lens production is organized rather than only a new way to form lenses. The company 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 pursue the same broad goal. Luxexcel was an early example in prescription eyewear: instead of the roughly 30-step conventional process with its large inventories and high wastage, it built lenses layer by layer in a material jetting process, and its platform could print single vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs. The company also embedded waveguides into prescription lenses for smart glasses, the same direction IOT is now exploring, and Meta later acquired Luxexcel as part of its AR technology efforts.
More recently, the approach has moved into point-of-care contact lenses. A team at the University of Waterloo 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.
Together these projects show additive manufacturing moving into optical production. IOT says its Light-Form personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers.