Spanish ophthalmic technology company IOT says it has become the first to 3D print personalized progressive lenses, using a process that forms a complete lens with a single flash of light in a few seconds. The company says lenses made with its Light-Form Technology are already on sale to consumers.
Unlike the layer-by-layer approach common in additive manufacturing, Light-Form does not build a lens gradually. IOT says the process skips the generating and polishing steps that conventional lens surfacing relies on. It is based on stabilized frontal photopolymerization, which cures the entire volume of the lens in one pass rather than shaping it from a blank. The forming stage takes seconds; finishing then includes recovering unused resin, hardening the surface and mapping the lens.
IOT also presents the method as less resource-intensive than conventional lens production. The company says it uses no water in manufacturing, requires 90% less energy and produces 76% less waste. Those figures cover the manufacturing stage only, according to IOT.
The company argues that a new production method for personalized progressive lenses must reproduce the intended optical design precisely, not merely create a recognizable shape. IOT says Light-Form combines the design freedom of digital manufacturing with these 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 designs.
Optical precision and flexible production
“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.
IOT frames the technology as a way to redesign the production chain, not just speed up lens forming. Larger installations could use several printing heads to raise output without taking up much floor space. Further ahead, the company envisions compact machines in 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. 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, that could mean organizing capacity around local demand rather than depending 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.
Smart glasses and a wider shift
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.
Other projects in the 3D printing sector are also applying digital manufacturing to vision correction. Luxexcel, an early example in prescription eyewear, 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. Meta later acquired Luxexcel. More recently, a University of Waterloo team developed a system that 3D prints custom contact lenses in roughly 20 minutes, raising the prospect of measuring a patient, designing a lens and fitting it in a single clinic visit. The work earned a Gold Medal at the Shanghai International Exhibition of Inventions in June 2026.
IOT’s announcement points to a broader shift in optical production: additive manufacturing is moving from prototyping and niche work toward prescription products. The company says its personalized progressive lenses are already reaching consumers, while its wider production and smart-glasses plans remain at earlier stages. Its efficiency and quality claims are attributed to IOT and, for the environmental figures, limited to manufacturing.