Process for manufacturing colored contact lenses

Claim 1

In a process for manufacturing a colored contact lens comprising providing a transparent contact lens, applying a colorant to the surface of such contact lens and rendering the colorant resistant to removal by ocular fluids, where the contact lens has a central pupil section and an iris section surrounding such pupil section, the improvement comprising applying the colorant in an intermittent pattern, the elements of the pattern being undiscernable to the ordinary viewer, over the entire iris section in a manner such that at least about ten percent of the iris section is covered and such that a sufficient amount of the iris within the interstices of the pattern is left uncovered to permit visualization of the structure of the iris of the lens wearer's eye, wherein the intermittent pattern is deposited on the lens surface by: (a) providing a plate having depressions corresponding to the pattern; (b) filling the depressions with colorant; (c) pressing a flexible pad against the plate, and (d) pressing the flexible pad against a surface of the lens.