Patent ID: 8398903

Claim:
A process for the production of a contact lens, comprising polymerizing and/or crosslinking a starting material in a mold to form the contact lens, wherein the starting material is polymerizable and/or crosslinkable by means of UV radiation, wherein the mold has a first mold half having a first optical surface in contact with the starting material and a second mold half having a second optical surface in contact with starting material, wherein said first mold half and said second mold half are configured to receive each other such that the cavity is formed between said first optical surface and said second optical surface, wherein at least one of the first and second mold halves comprises a polymer having a very low oxygen permeability characterized by being less than 5 × 10 - 11 ⁢ ( ml ⁢ ⁢ O 2 ⁢ ⁢ at ⁢ ⁢ STP ) ⁢ ( mm ) ( cm 2 ) ⁢ ( s ) ⁢ ( torr ) so that oxygen is prevented from reaching the first and/or second optical surfaces during polymerizing and/or crosslinking process and that inhibition of polymerizing and/or crosslinking of the starting material at starting material/optical surface interface is substantially minimized or eliminated, wherein the at least one of the first and second mold halves comprises UV absorbers distributed in the polymer, and wherein the polymer is selected from the group consisting of methamethacrylate/acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene copolymer, methacrylate/acrylonitrile copolymer, cyclic olefin copolymers, and diallyl diglycol carbonate polymer.