Colored contact lens

• US 20040109132A1
• Filed: 12/02/2003
• Published: 06/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Incorporated (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Incorporated (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Strebig, Daniel G.
• Granted Patent: US 6,896,369 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 351/162
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/046 Contact lenses having an iris pattern

Abstract

A colored contact lens comprising a generally uncolored pupil region, a generally annular-shaped iris region and a multicolored pattern on the iris region. The multicolored pattern is sufficiently colored to change the apparent color of an iris of a person wearing the contact lens and comprises a plurality of color elements. The lens further comprises more than 1000 discrete generally uncolored regions defined by the color elements. At least 1000 of the discrete generally uncolored regions are sufficiently small such that an ordinary viewer viewing the contact lens from a distance of sixteen inches cannot detect the presence of any of the at least 1000 generally uncolored regions when the wearer is wearing the contact lens.

Claims

1. A colored contact lens comprising:

a generally uncolored pupil region;

a generally annular-shaped iris region surrounding the pupil region and adapted to cover at least 80% of a wearer'"'"'s iris when the wearer is wearing the contact lens; and

a multicolored pattern on the iris region, the multicolored pattern being sufficiently colored to change the apparent color of an iris of a person wearing the contact lens, the multicolored pattern comprising a plurality of color elements;

more than 1000 discrete generally uncolored regions being defined by the color elements, at least 1000 of the discrete generally uncolored regions being sufficiently small such that an ordinary viewer viewing the contact lens from a distance of sixteen inches cannot detect the presence of any of the at least 1000 generally uncolored regions when the wearer is wearing the contact lens, the ordinary viewer having 20/20 vision.

2. A colored contact lens as set forth in claim 1 wherein the at least 1000 of the discrete generally uncolored regions are sufficiently large such that the at least 1000 discrete generally uncolored regions contribute to the overall appearance of the contact lens as viewed by the ordinary viewer from a distance of sixteen inches.

3. A colored contact lens as set forth in claim 2 wherein the more than 1000 discrete generally uncolored regions comprises more than 5,000 discrete generally uncolored regions.

4. A colored contact lens as set forth in claim 2 wherein the more than 1000 discrete generally uncolored regions comprises more than 10,000 discrete generally uncolored regions.

5. A colored contact lens as set forth in claim 4 wherein at least 5,000 of the discrete generally uncolored regions are sufficiently small such that an ordinary viewer viewing the contact lens from a distance of sixteen inches cannot detect the presence of any of the at least 5,000 generally uncolored regions when the wearer is wearing the contact lens.

6. A colored contact lens comprising:

a generally uncolored pupil region;

a generally annular-shaped iris region surrounding the pupil region and adapted to cover at least 80% of a wearer'"'"'s iris when the wearer is wearing the contact lens;

a multicolored pattern on the iris region, the multicolored pattern being sufficiently colored to change the apparent color of an iris of a person wearing the contact lens, the multicolored pattern comprising a plurality of color elements; and

a plurality of discrete generally uncolored regions defined by at least some of the color elements, the generally uncolored regions being sufficiently small such that an ordinary viewer viewing the contact lens from a distance of sixteen inches cannot detect the presence of the generally uncolored regions when the wearer is wearing the contact lens, the generally uncolored regions being sufficiently large such that the generally uncolored regions contribute to the overall appearance of the contact lens as viewed by the ordinary viewer from a distance of sixteen inches, the ordinary viewer having 20/20 vision.

7. A colored contact lens as set forth in claim 6 wherein each of at least a majority of the generally uncolored regions of said plurality of generally uncolored regions has an area of not greater than approximately 1200 square microns.

8. A colored contact lens comprising:

a generally uncolored pupil region;

a generally annular-shaped iris region surrounding the pupil region and adapted to cover at least 80% of a wearer'"'"'s iris when the wearer is wearing the contact lens;

a multicolored pattern on the iris region, the multicolored pattern being sufficiently colored to change the apparent color of an iris of a person wearing the contact lens, the multicolored pattern comprising a plurality of discrete color regions,

generally uncolored interstices between at least some of the discrete color regions, the interstices being sufficiently small such that an ordinary viewer viewing the contact lens from a distance of sixteen inches cannot detect the presence of the interstices when the wearer is wearing the contact lens, the interstices being sufficiently large such that the interstices contribute to the overall appearance of the contact lens as viewed by the ordinary viewer from a distance of sixteen inches, the ordinary viewer having 20/20 vision.

9. A colored contact lens comprising:

a generally uncolored pupil region;

a generally annular-shaped iris region surrounding the pupil region and adapted to cover at least 80% of a wearer'"'"'s iris when the wearer is wearing the contact lens;

a multicolored pattern on the iris region, the multicolored pattern being sufficiently colored to change the apparent color of an iris of a person wearing the contact lens, the multicolored pattern comprising a plurality of color elements, the multicolored pattern comprising an annular-shaped outer region and an annular-shaped inner region, the outer region generally circumscribing the inner region, the outer region having a first plurality of generally uncolored regions defined by some of the colored elements, the inner region having a second plurality of generally uncolored regions defined by some of the colored elements, the first plurality of the generally uncolored regions combining to have a first aggregate uncolored area, the second plurality of the generally uncolored region combining to have a second aggregate uncolored area, at least 60% of the first aggregate uncolored area being comprised of generally uncolored regions each having an area not greater than approximately 900 square microns, at least 50% of the second aggregate uncolored area being comprised of generally uncolored regions each having an area greater than approximately 900 square microns.

10. A colored contact lens comprising:

a generally uncolored pupil region;

a generally annular-shaped iris region surrounding the pupil region and adapted to cover at least 80% of a wearer'"'"'s iris when the wearer is wearing the contact lens;

a multicolored pattern on the iris region, the multicolored pattern being sufficiently colored to change the apparent color of an iris of a person wearing the contact lens, the multicolored pattern comprising a plurality of color elements, the multicolored pattern comprising an annular-shaped outer region and an annular shaped inner region, the outer region generally circumscribing the inner region, the outer region having a first plurality of generally uncolored regions defined by some of the colored elements, the inner region having a second plurality of generally uncolored regions defined by some of the colored elements, each of at least 60% of the generally uncolored regions of the first plurality of generally uncolored regions having an area not greater than approximately 900 square microns, each of at least 50% of the generally uncolored regions of the second plurality of generally uncolored regions having an area greater than approximately 900 square microns.