IOT, a Spanish ophthalmic technology company, 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 the company says lenses made this way are already on sale to consumers.
The claim matters because the method is not a layer-by-layer build. It also skips the generating and polishing steps that conventional lens surfacing depends on. IOT is presenting Light-Form as a different production route for prescription optics, not simply a faster version of an existing surfacing line.
How the lens is formed
Light-Form is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization. According to IOT, light cures the whole volume of the lens in one pass instead of shaping it gradually from a blank. The forming stage takes seconds. 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 argues that 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.
“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.
Resource savings, with a clear boundary
IOT compares Light-Form with conventional methods and reports that 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. They therefore do not amount to a full life-cycle assessment of a finished lens, including distribution and retail. Even so, they show the areas where IOT expects additive production to reduce resource intensity.
The company’s production vision extends beyond a faster forming step. 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. That would put production next to the customer and reduce 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 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.
A different model for optical labs
For optical laboratories, the proposal 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 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.
The model is notable because it treats printing as part of the supply chain, not just a laboratory curiosity. A lens produced in seconds at the point of demand would change inventory patterns, but it would also require reliable quality control, lens mapping and finishing close to the point of sale. IOT’s description of its finishing steps suggests that the flash is the beginning of the workflow, not the whole of it.
Smart glasses and the wider field
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. The company says this could make such devices thinner and lighter. It also suggests that custom optical shapes could eventually be useful in virtual reality.
Other projects show additive manufacturing moving into optical production. Luxexcel was an early example in prescription eyewear. Conventional prescription lenses tend to be manufactured through around 30 steps, which requires large inventories and creates high wastage. Luxexcel instead built lenses layer by layer in a material jetting process. Its platform could print single-vision and freeform lenses and multifocal progressive designs, and it also embedded waveguides into prescription lenses for smart glasses. Meta later acquired Luxexcel as part of its AR technology efforts.
More recently, a University of Waterloo team developed a system that 3D prints custom contact lenses in roughly 20 minutes. The work raised the prospect that a patient could be measured, have a lens designed and walk out wearing it after one clinic visit. It earned a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
IOT’s differentiated claim is that its personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers. The wider question is whether single-flash photopolymerization can repeat that optical performance consistently, at volumes that make sense for optical labs and stores, and with a total cost that justifies moving production closer to the wearer. On the evidence IOT presents, Light-Form is a credible attempt to shift lens manufacturing from centralized surfacing toward distributed production. The commercial outcome will depend on the unglamorous parts of the chain: repeatable quality, finishing, measurement and service.