Contact lenses and materials and methods of making same

Claim 1

A contact lens material resulting from the creation of a first comonomer mixture and a second comonomer mixture, each containing at least one polymerizable monovinyl monomer, said first mixture containing 0% up to about 85% (W/W) hydrophobic polymerizable monovinyl monomers, from about 0% up to about 90% (W/W) polymerizable hydrophilic monovinyl monomers, from about 0.01% up to about 25% (W/W) of a polymerizable monomeric vinyl crosslinking agent, and from about 0.01% up to about 3.0% of a vinyl polymerization initiator; and said second mixture containing from 0% up to about 85% (W/W) of hydrophobic polymerizable vinyl monomers, from 0% up to about 90% (W/W) of hydrophilic polymerizable vinyl monomers, and from about 0.01% up to about 25% (W/W) of a polymerizable monomeric vinyl crosslinking agent, partially polymerizing said first mixture until it attains a relative viscosity, based on said first mixture before polymerization, of from about 1.05 to about 10; admixing said second mixture with said partially polymerized first mixture to arrest the polymerization of said partially polymerized first mixture and create therewith a casting solution; introducing said casting solution into a lens mold; and curing said molded casting solution into fully polymerized lens material.

Claim 15

A method of producing an optical lens blank having an interpenetrating network copolymer composition, said method comprising: preparing, in weight percent of the weight of all polymerizable vinyl monomers in the network copolymer composition (W/W), a first mixture of polymerizable vinyl monomers containing from about 5% to about 95% (W/W) of polymerizable vinyl monomers, from about 0.01% up to about 35% of a polymerizable monomeric vinyl crosslinking agent, and from about 0.1% up to about 3% (W/W) of a vinyl polymerization initiator; preparing a second mixture of polymerizable vinyl monomers containing from about 5% up to about 95% (W/W) of polymerizable vinyl monomers, from about 0.1% up to about 25% of a polymerizable monomeric vinyl crosslinking agent, and from about 0% up to about 0.3% (W/W) of a vinyl polymerization initiator; polymerizing said first mixture until said partially polymerized first mixture obtains a relative viscosity relative to said unpolymerized first mixture of from about 1.05 up to about 10; interrupting the polymerization of said partially polymerized first mixture by mixing said second mixture therein to create a casting solution therewith; introducing said casting solution into a mold having at least one lens finishing surface therein; closing said molds; heating said closed mold in the range of from about 20 o C up to about 70 o C for a time sufficient to complete the polymerization of said casting solution and create a lens blank having at least one optical surface in said mold; removing the closed mold from said oven; and removing said blank from said mold.

Claim 16

A method of producing an optical lens blank having an interpenetrating network copolymer composition, said method comprising: preparing, in weight percent of the weight of all polymerizable vinyl monomers in the network copolymer composition (W/W), a first mixture of polymerizable vinyl monomers containing from about 5% to about 95% (W/W) of polymerizable vinyl monomers, from about 0.01% up to about 35% of a polymerizable monomeric vinyl crosslinking agent, and from about 0.1% up to about 3% (W/W) of a vinyl polymerization initiator; preparing a second mixture of polymerizable vinyl monomers containing from about 5% up to about 95% (W/W) of polymerizable vinyl monomers, from about 0.1% up to about 25% of a polymerizable monomeric vinyl crosslinking agent, and from about 0% up to about 0.3% (W/W) of a vinyl polymerization initiator; polymerizing said first mixture until said partially polymerized first mixture obtains a relative viscosity relative to said unpolymerized first mixture of from about 1.05 up to about 10; interrupting the polymerization of said partially polymerized first mixture by mixing said second mixture therein to create a casting solution therewith; introducing said casting solution into a mold having at least one lens finishing surface therein; closing said molds; heating said closed mold in the range of from about 20 o C up to about 70 o C for a time sufficient to complete the polymerization of said casting solution and create a lens blank having at least one optical surface in said mold; removing the closed mold from said oven; and removing said blank from said mold.

Claim 23

A method of producing an optical lens blank according to any of claims 14 to 17 which said polymerizable vinyl monomers are selected from the group consisting of 0% up to about 85% (W/W) hydrophobic polymerizable vinyl monomers, from about 1% up to about 98% (W/W) polymerizable hydrophilic vinyl monomers, and from about 0.1% up to about 35% (W/W) of a polymerizable monomeric vinyl crosslinking agent, and from about 0.1% up to about 3.0% of a vinyl polymerization initiator.

Claim 25

A method of producing an optical lens blank according to any of claims 14, 18 or 22 in which said polymerizable vinyl monomers are selected from the group consisting of from 0% up to about 85% (W/W) of hydrophobic polymerizable vinyl monomers, from 0% up to about 90% (W/W) of hydrophilic polymerizable vinyl monomers, from about 0.1% up to about 25% (W/W) of a polymerizable monomeric vinyl crosslinking agent, and from about 0.1% up to about 3.0% of a vinyl polymerization initiator.