Patent ID: 7296891

Claim:
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 natural 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, wherein each of a majority of the generally uncolored regions of said lens has an area of not greater than approximately 1200 square microns.