Patent ID: 8703025

Claim:
A method for making a colored contact lens, comprising the steps of: (a) applying a water based ink to at least a portion of at least one molding surface of a lens mold, (b) dispensing a lens-forming silicone hydrogel material into at least one of the mold halves of said lens mold; (c) closing the two mold halves of the said lens mold to form a lens-forming cavity; and (d) curing the lens-forming material within the lens-forming cavity to form the contact lens, whereby the ink is transferred to the body of the contact lens, wherein the lens mold is made of a hydrophilic, high surface energy lens mold material with a surface tension of from 40 to 70 mN/m, wherein the ink is applied as one or more ink drops and each ink drop is sufficiently flat, that the forces exerted by the mold surface to the ink drop surface in the area where they make contact, are higher than the forces exerted by the flowing lens forming material to the facing surface of the ink drop; and, wherein the ink material and the lens forming material are sufficiently immiscible or are not miscible at all.