Plasma treatment of contact lens and IOL

• US 20050045589A1
• Filed: 08/25/2003
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bausch & Lomb Incorporated (Bausch Health Cos., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bausch & Lomb Incorporated (Bausch Health Cos., Inc.)
• Inventors: Rastogi, Sanjay, Grobe, George L. III, Appleton, William J., Moorehead, Michael J., Trotto, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,250,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 216/67
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/0077 Special surfaces of prostheses, e.g. for improving ingrowth A61F2/30767 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/16 Intraocular lenses
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2400/18 Modification of implant surfaces in order to improve biocompatibility, cell growth, fixation of biomolecules, e.g. plasma treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2430/16 for reconstruction of eye parts, e.g. intraocular lens, cornea
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 27/50 Materials characterised by their function or physical properties , e.g. injectable or lubricating compositions, shape-memory materials, surface modified materials
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 59/14 by plasma treatment plasma tubes per se H01J
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 11/00076 enabling passage of fluids, e.g. oxygen, tears, between the area under the lens and the lens exterior
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 11/0024 using a vacuum suction gripper
• CPC Class Codes: B29L 2011/0041 Contact lenses
• CPC Class Codes: C08J 7/123 Treatment by wave energy or particle radiation C08J7/18 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/32532 Electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H05H 1/4697 using glow discharges

Abstract

Intraocular lenses or contact lenses 20 are placed on a lower spindle 34 and held there by a vacuum in conduit 34. Noble and reactive gases 56, 58 are introduced and a voltage is applied across upper spindle 32 and lower spindle 34 to plasma treat one surface of the lens. The lens is transferred to the other spindle and the process is repeated.

Claims

1. A process for plasma treating an intraocular or contact lens comprising the steps of:

supporting one surface of the lens with a spindle to expose the other surface of the lens to a treatment process;

using the spindle as one electrode, generating a glow discharge proximate the exposed surface of the lens;

transferring the lens to another spindle to support the treated surface of the lens and to expose the other surface of the lens to a treatment process; and

generating a glow discharge proximate the exposed other surface of the lens.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the lens has a concave posterior surface and a convex anterior surface.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein one spindle has a convex surface and the other spindle has a concave surface.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the spindles have openings in their surfaces that support the lens and said openings are connected to conduits for applying a pressure or a vacuum to hold the lens or discharge the lens, respectively.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the plasma treatment is conducted for not more than one minute.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the plasma treatment is conducted for not more than about ten seconds.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of holding the lens on a spindle and polishing the edges of the lens.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating a glow discharge comprises the steps of introducing an inert gas and a reactive gas proximate the exposed surface of the lens and applying a voltage across the lens to generate a plasma proximate the exposed surface.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the voltage is DC or AC.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the plasma operation is conducted at atmospheric pressure or reduced pressure.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the plasma is surrounded by atmosphere or is isolated from atmosphere.

12. A process for simultaneously plasma treating multiple intraocular lenses or contact lenses comprising the steps of:

supporting one surface of each lens with a support tray to expose the other surface of the lens to a treatment process;

moving the support tray along a process path;

generating a first glow discharge proximate the process path to treat the exposed surface of the lenses;

rotating the lenses to expose their other surface;

moving the rotated lenses along the process path;

generating a second glow discharge proximate the process path to treat the exposed, other surface of the lenses.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the first and the second glow discharges are the same and the lenses reverse direction along the process path after rotation.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the glow discharges are generated by a plurality of elongated plasma heads arranged transverse or parallel to the process path.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the lenses stop along the process path in the glow discharge for surface treatment.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the lenses continuously move past the glow discharge.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the lenses move relative to the glow discharge.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the lenses and the glow discharge travel together.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the lenses pause in the glow discharge.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein glow discharge region(s) are generated by an array of plasma generator heads.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the number of heads corresponds to the number of lenses simultaneously undergoing plasma treatment.

22. A process for simultaneously plasma treating multiple intraocular lenses or contact lenses comprising the steps of:

supporting one surface of each lens with a support tray for supporting the edges of the lenses and exposing both surfaces of the lens to a treatment process;

disposing each lens between a pair of plasma generating electrodes;

generating a first glow discharge to treat one of the exposed surfaces of the lenses; and

generating a second glow discharge to treat one of the other exposed surfaces of the lenses.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein glow discharge region(s) are generated by an array of plasma generator heads.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein there is an upper and lower head for each lens that undergoes plasma treatment.

25. An apparatus for plasma treating an iol or contact lens comprising:

first and second spindles, each having a support for one surface of a lens and for exposing the other surface of the lens to a treatment process, each spindle also comprising an electrode for acting as one of two electrodes during a plasma treatment process, wherein said spindles are disposed opposite each other;

means for introducing noble and reactive gases into a region surrounding the lens;

means connected to the spindles for applying an electrical voltage between the spindles to generate a glow discharge proximate the exposed surface of the lens;

means for transferring the lens from the first spindle to the second spindle in order to treat the other surface of the lens.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the lens has a concave posterior surface and a convex anterior surface.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein on spindle has a convex surface and the other spindle has a convex surface.

28. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the spindles have openings in their surfaces that support the lens and said openings are connected to conduits for applying a pressure or a vacuum to hold the lens or discharge the lens, respectively.

29. The apparatus of claim 25 further comprising the means for holding the lens on a spindle and polishing the edges of the lens.

30. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the voltage is DC or AC.

31. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the plasma operation is conducted at atmospheric pressure or reduced pressure.

32. The method of claim 25 wherein the plasma is surrounded by atmosphere or is isolated from atmosphere.

33. An apparatus for simultaneously plasma treating multiple ophthalmic lenses, said lenses each having first and second surfaces, said apparatus comprising:

a support tray for supporting said first surface of each lens and exposing said second surface of each lens to a treatment process;

means for moving the support tray along a process path;

means for generating a first glow discharge proximate the process path to treat said second surface of the lenses;

means for rotating the lenses to expose said first surface thereof;

means for moving the rotated lenses along the process path;

means for generating a second glow discharge proximate the process path to treat the first surface of the lenses.

34. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the first and the second glow discharges are the same and the lenses reverse direction along the process path after rotation.

35. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the means for generating glow discharges are a plurality of elongated plasma heads arranged transverse or parallel to the process path.

36. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the glow discharge means comprises an array of plasma generator heads.

37. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the number of heads corresponds to the number of lenses simultaneously undergoing plasma treatment.

38. An apparatus for simultaneously plasma treating multiple ophthalmic lenses, comprising:

a tray for holding a plurality of lenses each having first and second surfaces in an array, each lens disposed over an opening in the tray so that each lens is supported by the tray on the outer edge of the lens whereby both surfaces of the lens are exposed to a treatment process;

an array of pairs of plasma generating electrodes corresponding to the lenses in the tray, each pair of plasma generating electrodes having one electrode disposed above its corresponding lens and another electrode disposed below its corresponding lens;

means for introducing noble and reactive gases proximate one of the exposed surfaces of the lenses;

means for applying a voltage to one electrode and grounding the other electrode of each pair for generating a first glow discharge to treat one of the exposed surfaces of the lenses; and

means for applying a voltage to the other electrode and grounding the one electrode of each pair for generating a second glow discharge to treat the other exposed surfaces of the lenses.