Glass coated polysiloxane contact lens

Claim 1

A sufficient amount of oxygen transportability to meet the requirements of the human cornea, wettable, hydrophilic, fillerless, flexible, hydrolytically stable, biologically inert, transparent, resilient, soft, glass coated polymeric contact lens comprising an outer continuous coating of substantially colorless transparent glass from about 100 to about 8000 Angstroms thick with an index of refraction from about 1.4 to about 1.6, said glass being selected from the group consisting of silicate glasses, borosilicate glasses, phosphate glasses, germanate glasses and mixtures thereof, said substrate having a glass transition temperature below about 0° C., said substrate consisting essentially of a poly(organosiloxane) terminally bonded through a divalent hydrocarbon group to a polymerized activated unsaturated group, said poly(organosiloxane) having the formula: ##STR5## wherein A is an activated unsaturated group, R is a divalent hydrocarbon radical having from 1 to about 22 carbon atoms, R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , and R 4 can be the same or different and is selected from the group consisting of a monovalent hydrocarbon radical, a halogen substituted monovalent hydrocarbon radical, each having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms and m is 25 or greater.

Claim 24

A method of coating a flexible polymeric contact lens substrate with glass resulting in the flexible lens becoming more wettable and more hydrophilic comprising: (a) providing a contact lens substrate consisting essentially of a poly(organosiloxane) terminally bonded through a divalent hydrocarbon group to a polymerized activated unsaturated group, said poly(organosiloxane) having the formula: ##STR6## wherein A is an activated unsaturated group, R is a divalent hydrocarbon radial having from 1 to about 22 carbon atoms, R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 can be the same or different and is selected from the group consisting of a monovalent hydrocarbon radical, a halogen substituted monovalent hydrocarbon radical, each having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms and m is 25 or greater; (b) exposing said contact lens substrate as a material to be etched to RF sputtering as target material at an RF input power of from about 1/2 watt per square inch to about 5 watts per square inch in an atmosphere under vacuum conditions resulting in etching of the surface of said contact lens substrate; and (c) then exposing said contact lens substrate as a material to be coated to RF sputtering thereby depositing a layer of glass from about 100 to about 8000 Angstroms thick with an index of refraction of from about 1.4 to about 1.6 onto the contact lens substrate, said glass is selected from the group consisting of silicate glasses, borosilicate glasses, phosphate glasses, germanate glasses and mixtures thereof, said deposition comprising RF sputtering said glass onto said contact lens substrate at an RF input power of from about 1/2 watt per square inch to about 5 watts per square inch in an atmosphere under vacuum conditions forming a glass coated contact lens substantially free of cracks in the glass coating of from about 75 to about 200 microns wide, said lens being flexible, wettable, hydrophilic, fillerless, hydrolytically stable, biologically inert, transparent, resilient, soft and has a sufficient amount of oxygen transportability to meet the requirements of the human cornea.

Claim 25

A method of coating a flexible polymeric contact lens substrate with glass resulting in the flexible lens becoming more wettable and more hydrophilic comprising: (a) providing a contact lens substrate consisting essentially of a poly(organosiloxane) terminally bonded through a divalent hydrocarbon group to a polymerized activated unsaturated group, said poly(organosiloxane) having the formula: ##STR6## wherein A is an activated unsaturated group, R is a divalent hydrocarbon radial having from 1 to about 22 carbon atoms, R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 can be the same or different and is selected from the group consisting of a monovalent hydrocarbon radical, a halogen substituted monovalent hydrocarbon radical, each having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms and m is 25 or greater; (b) exposing said contact lens substrate as a material to be etched to RF sputtering as target material at an RF input power of from about 1/2 watt per square inch to about 5 watts per square inch in an atmosphere under vacuum conditions resulting in etching of the surface of said contact lens substrate; and (c) then exposing said contact lens substrate as a material to be coated to RF sputtering thereby depositing a layer of glass from about 100 to about 8000 Angstroms thick with an index of refraction of from about 1.4 to about 1.6 onto the contact lens substrate, said glass is selected from the group consisting of silicate glasses, borosilicate glasses, phosphate glasses, germanate glasses and mixtures thereof, said deposition comprising RF sputtering said glass onto said contact lens substrate at an RF input power of from about 1/2 watt per square inch to about 5 watts per square inch in an atmosphere under vacuum conditions forming a glass coated contact lens substantially free of cracks in the glass coating of from about 75 to about 200 microns wide, said lens being flexible, wettable, hydrophilic, fillerless, hydrolytically stable, biologically inert, transparent, resilient, soft and has a sufficient amount of oxygen transportability to meet the requirements of the human cornea.