Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it has become the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses, and that lenses made with its Light-Form process are already on sale to consumers. The company describes the method as forming a complete lens from a single flash of light in a matter of seconds, without the layer-by-layer build used in most additive manufacturing.
IOT says the approach also skips the generating and polishing stages that conventional lens surfacing depends on. According to the company, the process is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization: light cures the entire volume of the lens in one pass instead of shaping it gradually from a blank. That forming step takes seconds, after which several finishing steps follow — unused resin is recovered to limit waste, the surface is hardened, and the lens is mapped.
Resource claims cover manufacturing only
IOT says the method is considerably 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.
The company argues that a new production route for personalized progressive lenses has to reproduce the intended optical design precisely, not merely produce a recognizable shape. IOT 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. It 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.
Rethinking the production chain
IOT presents the technology as a way to reorganize lens production rather than simply speed up forming. Larger installations could run several printing heads to raise output without consuming much floor space. Further ahead, the company envisions compact machines making custom lenses inside optical stores, placing production next 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.” She said the company is working to translate these capabilities into practical manufacturing options.
For optical laboratories, that could mean organizing capacity around local demand instead of relying only on centralized surfacing equipment. IOT says the long-term benefit for wearers would be faster access to lenses made for them, while optical partners would keep the central role in vision correction and customer service.
Smart glasses on the roadmap
IOT is also looking beyond conventional spectacles. One option under development is printing prescription optics directly 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 custom optical shapes could eventually be useful in virtual reality.
IOT is not the first to apply additive manufacturing to eyewear. Luxexcel built prescription lenses layer by layer in a material jetting process and could print single vision, freeform and multifocal progressive designs, later embedding waveguides into lenses for smart glasses; Meta acquired the company as part of its AR efforts. More recently, a University of Waterloo team developed a system that 3D prints custom contact lenses in roughly 20 minutes, work that earned a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
IOT, for its part, says its personalized progressive lenses made with Light-Form are already reaching consumers.