Patent ID: 6971746

Claim:
A contact lens, comprising: a contact lens body having a base curvature with a convex anterior face, a concave posterior face, and a peripheral edge therebetween with a peripheral zone adjacent the peripheral edge of the anterior face, the body having a thickness between the anterior face and the posterior face and being non-axi-symmetric to define a superior edge and an inferior edge, a vertical meridian defined from the superior edge toward the inferior edge and a horizontal meridian perpendicular thereto; the anterior face including an inner zone circumscribed by the peripheral zone, and an optic zone in the inner zone, wherein the inner zone includes a ballast portion and the thickness increases parallel to the vertical meridian from the superior edge toward the inferior edge in at least the ballast portion of the inner zone; wherein the inner zone comprises a superior portion between the optic zone and the superior extent of the inner zone, an inferior portion between the optic zone and the inferior extent of the inner zone, and an intermediate portion between the superior and inferior portions; and the ballast portion is defined within one or more of the superior, intermediate, and inferior portions and has a series of consecutive horizontal cross-sections exclusive of the peripheral zone and the optic zone spanning a distance along the vertical meridian of at least 20% of the smallest dimension of the superior, intermediate, and inferior portions as measured along the vertical meridian, wherein each horizontal cross-section has a substantially uniform thickness not varying by more than about 30 μm.