JPH06342135A - Resin mold for producing contact lens and production of contact lens using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inexpensively produce a high quality contact lens excellent in optical property, free from inflicting damage to the cornea and having a smooth surface. CONSTITUTION:A male mold of a contact lens mold is composed of a projecting BC optical face 1 forming base curve(BC) at the time of forming into a contact lens shape and a contact face 2 of the mold brought into contact at the time of assembling the mold after filling a polymerizable monomer. On the other hand, a female mold is composed of a recessed FC optical face 3 forming front curve(FC) at the time of forming into contact lens shape, a contact face 4 brought into contact at the time of assembling the mold after filling the polymerizable monomer and a peripheral regulating part 5 regulating the outer periphery of the contact lens. A modified polyolefin, particularly a polyolefin containing alicyclic in the main chain, is used as the material of the mold, at least for the male mold.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contact lens manufacturing method, which is used for manufacturing a high-quality contact lens having excellent optical properties and a smooth surface which does not damage the cornea at a low cost. And a method of manufacturing a contact lens using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are roughly three types of manufacturing methods for contact lenses, and they are manufactured by any one of a race cut method (cutting and polishing method), a molding method and a spin casting method (centrifugal casting method). The race cut method is the most commonly used method for manufacturing contact lenses at present, and is a method for manufacturing a contact lens by cutting out a rod-shaped or button-shaped contact lens material with a lathe, cutting and polishing it. . This method is suitable for manufacturing a wide variety of contact lenses having different shapes such as BC (base curve: the surface where the contact lens contacts the cornea, or the curvature of that surface), but the cost is very high. There is a problem. Currently, most hard contact lenses are manufactured by this race cut method, and many manufacturers also manufacture soft contact lenses by the race cut method.

On the other hand, the molding method and the spin casting method are mostly used in the production of soft contact lenses. The molding method is a method of filling a mold having a lens-shaped space with a polymerizable monomer, and polymerizing this to manufacture a contact lens.The spin casting method is to cast the polymerizable monomer into a rotating mold and centrifugal force. This is a method of manufacturing a contact lens by utilizing that the raw material spreads thinly. The drawback of these methods is that they are disadvantageous when flexibly manufacturing a wide variety of contact lenses of different shapes, but in the case of soft contact lenses, the type of BC required is small and the type required. Because of the small number of types, it is possible to apply these methods.

On the other hand, the advantage of these methods is that contact lenses can be manufactured at low cost.
The precision, more specifically, the dimensional precision and the surface precision are greatly influenced by the precision of the mold, and it is possible to manufacture a good quality contact lens by using a precision mold. However, the spin casting method needs to control many factors such as the viscosity, surface tension, amount, and rotation speed of the polymerizable monomer, and the applicable lens material is limited to a specific one. Further, the contact lens obtained by this method is also an aspherical surface, so that sufficient optical performance cannot be obtained.

In recent years, soft contact lenses have been widely used by people who have not been able to wear conventional hard contact lenses because of their good wearing comfort. For this reason, various techniques for manufacturing low-cost, high-quality soft contact lenses have been carried out by the hands of researchers and engineers in the past. A feature of soft contact lenses is that the lenses themselves are flexible and fit along the corneal shape, so they do not require an extremely large number of BC types like hard contact lenses. Therefore, the molding method is considered to be suitable for manufacturing a contact lens at low cost and with little variation in quality.
In addition, since a soft material such as a silicone rubber or a long-chain alkylmethacrylate that does not contain water, such as a soft contact lens, cannot be processed by a race cut method, it is generally manufactured by a molding method.

Conventionally, as the material of the resin mold for manufacturing contact lenses, polyolefins such as PP (polypropylene) and PE (polyethylene), PS (polystyrene), PC (polycarbonate), PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate), polyacetal, Teflon have been mainly used. Injection-moldable synthetic resins, such as polyamide, are widely used. Various factors must be considered in order to select these resin molds for manufacturing contact lenses.

First, compatibility with contact lens materials can be mentioned. The material of the resin mold for contact lenses must be one that is not attacked when it comes into contact with various polymerizable monomers that are raw materials for contact lenses. this is,
It depends on the type of polymerizable monomer used. Further, the adhesion to the contact lens material is also a big problem. For example, if the adhesion between the contact lens resin mold material and the contact lens material is too large, there is a problem in that the contact lens material cannot be released after being polymerized. On the contrary, if the adhesion is too small, the polymerizable monomer, which is the raw material of the contact lens, is easily peeled off from the resin mold in the process of polymerization, and the shape of the resin mold is not accurately transferred to the contact lens. Become. That is, the material of the resin mold for the contact lens needs to be selected so that the adhesiveness with the contact lens raw material becomes appropriate.

Next, the relationship with the polymerization method will be mentioned.
For example, when the polymerizable monomer is polymerized by light rays,
The resin mold used for it must be sufficiently transparent for the light of the wavelengths required for the polymerization. On the other hand, in the case of polymerizing by heat, the resin mold used for it must have heat resistance to some extent. Further, the precision as a resin mold for contact lenses can be mentioned, which is closely related to a molding method such as injection molding. The precision of the resin mold for contact lenses specifically refers to dimensional precision and surface precision, which largely depend on the material of the resin used. In particular, it is known that volumetric shrinkage during molding and water absorption after molding have a great influence on the accuracy of the resin mold.

In addition to these factors, the cost of the resin type material, and as a method for manufacturing a contact lens, after the polymerizable monomer is filled in the space formed between the male type and the female type and polymerized, In the method of mounting the male die on the lathe for lens cutting and cutting the front curve side of the lens in a state where the die remains matched, the processability of the material of the resin die used is also added.

[0010]

The greatest advantage of manufacturing contact lenses by a molding method is that contact lenses of the same standard can be mass-produced and low-cost production is possible.

In recent years, cleaning of soft contact lenses,
Disposable soft contact lenses are rapidly becoming popular mainly in the United States because they do not require troublesome care such as boiling disinfection and are hygienic.
In order to manufacture this disposable soft contact lens, it is necessary to significantly reduce the conventional manufacturing cost, but the quality cannot be deteriorated because the contact lens is a medical device that directly contacts the cornea.

At present, P is said to be the most commonly used material for resin molds for manufacturing contact lenses.
P is called polyolefin together with PE and the like.
Polyolefins are generally inexpensive and can be easily molded by injection molding or the like. Further, since it has a certain degree of transparency, it can be applied to polymerization by light rays. However, the volumetric shrinkage of a polyolefin is relatively large during molding, and it is difficult to obtain accuracy. Moreover, since the heat resistance is poor, the polyolefin may be deformed even at a relatively low temperature.

PS has higher heat resistance and better transparency than PP, but has poor solvent resistance. PC, PMM
As A is used as various optical materials, it has excellent transparency, PC has high heat resistance, and PMMA has the characteristics that accuracy can be easily obtained, but both have solvent resistance. It is relatively poor and can be attacked, especially by the polymerizable monomers commonly used as contact lens materials. Further, it has a drawback that it has a large adhesiveness with a contact lens material and is difficult to release.

The general characteristics of the resin material used as the material of the resin mold for manufacturing the contact lens have been described above, but each has advantages and disadvantages, and no material satisfying all the requirements has been found. Is the current situation. In particular, in the case where the contact lens is a medical device and its accuracy is strictly required, the present invention provides a high-quality contact lens that has excellent optical properties and a smooth surface that does not damage the cornea at low cost. It is intended to be manufactured in.

[0015]

That is, the resin mold for manufacturing a contact lens of the present invention is manufactured by filling a polymerizable monomer into a space formed when a male mold and a female mold are combined. The method, or after filling the polymerizable monomer in the space formed when the male and female molds are combined, and polymerizing by irradiating this with a light beam,
A mold to be used for manufacturing a contact lens by attaching the male mold to the lens cutting lathe with the two molds still matching or removing the female mold and cutting the front curve side of the lens. The resin type material is a modified polyolefin, particularly a polyolefin having an alicyclic ring in its main chain.

Further, in the method for manufacturing a contact lens of the present invention, at least the male material of the resin mold is made of modified polyolefin, and a space having a lens shape is formed when the male mold and the female mold are combined. It is characterized in that the contact lens is obtained by filling the space with a polymerizable monomer and polymerizing this.

Furthermore, at least the male mold of the resin mold is made of modified polyolefin, the male mold and the female mold are combined, the space formed between them is filled with a polymerizable monomer, and this is irradiated with light rays. After being polymerized by
It is characterized in that the male mold is attached to the lens cutting lathe in a state where the two molds match each other or the female mold is removed, and the front curve side of the lens is cut.

The present invention will be described in detail below. The modified polyolefin used in the resin mold for producing a contact lens of the present invention will be described. The modified polyolefin can be said to be a material obtained by changing the properties of the polyolefins typified by PE and PP, which have been conventionally used, which are defects, so as to be suitable for a certain purpose. As I mentioned earlier,
Polyolefins such as PP and PE, which are said to be the most commonly used materials for resin molds for manufacturing contact lenses, have a relatively large volumetric shrinkage during molding, which makes it difficult to obtain accuracy and has a high heat resistance. Since it is bad, deformation occurs even at a relatively low temperature, and because of its large crystallinity, its transparency is insufficient, and so on. That is, it can be said that the most suitable material for the resin mold for manufacturing a contact lens will be obtained if the properties which are the drawbacks peculiar to these polyolefins can be improved.

The improvement of the above-mentioned disadvantageous properties of the polyolefin is strongly demanded from the field of optical materials such as optical disks,
In recent years, many resin manufacturers have conducted research and development, and modified polyolefins having a low crystallinity and an amorphous property have come to be used. This is because the amorphous nature of the polyolefin improves the transparency and heat resistance in addition to the inherent solvent resistance of the polyolefin, and also reduces volumetric shrinkage during molding. Was greatly improved.
In particular, it has been found that when a polyolefin having an alicyclic ring in the main chain is used, the properties required for a resin mold for producing a contact lens are well balanced and extremely useful.

Next, the resin mold for producing a contact lens of the present invention will be described. The resin mold of the present invention is formed by filling a space formed when a male mold and a female mold are combined with a polymerizable monomer to produce a contact lens, or formed by combining a male mold and a female mold. After filling the space with a polymerizable monomer and polymerizing it by irradiating it with a light beam, attach the male mold to the lathe for lens cutting with both molds still in agreement or with the female mold removed,
It can be used for any of the method of manufacturing a contact lens by cutting the front curve side of the lens.

Used in a method for obtaining a finished contact lens by forming FC (front curve: the surface opposite to the surface where the contact lens contacts the cornea or the curvature of that surface) and BC of the contact lens in one step. The resin mold
It will be described with reference to the drawings (FIGS. 1 to 3). FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a male contact lens resin mold according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a female mold, and FIG. 3 is an assembled sectional view showing a coupled state of the contact lens resin mold according to the present invention.

The male mold of this contact lens mold is a convex BC optical surface 1 that forms BC when molded into a contact lens shape as shown in FIG. It is composed of a contact surface 2 of a mold which comes into contact when assembled. On the other hand, the female mold has a concave FC optical surface 3 that forms FC when molded into a contact lens shape as shown in FIG. 2, and a contact surface 4 of the mold that contacts when the mold is assembled after filling with a polymerizable monomer. , An outer periphery defining portion 5 that defines the outer periphery of the contact lens. A convex BC optical surface 1 that forms BC when formed into a contact lens shape and a concave F that forms FC.
The C optical surface 3 is processed into a sufficiently smooth mirror surface.

When these male mold and female mold are fitted and assembled, a lens-shaped space (cavity) 6 is formed between the FC optical surface and the BC optical surface, as shown in FIG. The tee is filled with a polymerizable monomer and polymerized to obtain a contact lens.

On the other hand, a resin mold used in a method for producing a contact lens by manufacturing a semi-finished product (blank) of a contact lens in which only BC of the contact lens is formed by a molding method and then secondary processing FC to obtain a contact lens (Fig. 4
~ FIG. 6) will be described. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a male contact lens resin mold according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a female mold, and FIG. 6 is an assembled sectional view showing a coupled state of the contact lens resin mold according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the male mold of this contact lens molding die has a convex BC optical surface 7 which forms BC when molded into a contact lens shape, and is filled with a polymerizable monomer before molding. It is composed of a contact surface 8 of a mold which comes into contact when assembled, and an attachment 9 which is attached to a lathe for lens cutting after superposition. The convex BC optical surface 7 that forms BC when formed into a contact lens shape is processed into a sufficiently smooth mirror surface. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the female mold has a concave FC forming surface 10 for forming FC of a contact lens after polymerization and cutting, and a contact surface of the mold that contacts when the mold is assembled after filling with a polymerizable monomer. 11, a side surface contact surface 12 of a die that prevents the FC surface and the BC surface from being displaced from each other.

When these male and female molds are assembled to match each other, a lens-shaped space (cavity) 13 is formed between the FC forming surface and the BC optical surface, as shown in FIG. After the polymerizable monomer is filled in the tee and polymerized, the male mold is attached to the lens cutting lathe via the attachment while the two molds are still matched or the female mold is removed, and the FC of the lens is attached. The side is cut to obtain a contact lens.

Next, the method for polymerizing the contact lens according to the present invention will be described. The polymerization of the present invention is carried out by heating or irradiation with active energy rays such as ultraviolet rays in the presence of a usual polymerization initiator. A necessary amount of the polymerizable monomer is discharged onto the concave surface of the female mold, and the polymerizable monomer is superposed on the concave surface so that the convex surface of the male mold matches the concave surface. At this time, be careful that the contact surface of the mold and the contact surface of the side surface are in complete contact. It is suitable to heat the thus assembled mold for thermal polymerization or to irradiate with ultraviolet rays to perform photopolymerization.

The polymerizable monomer applicable to the present invention is
A commonly used radically polymerizable compound,
It is a compound containing at least one vinyl group, allyl group, acryl group, or methacryl group in the molecule, and is a substance that is usually used as a hard contact lens or soft contact lens material. Specifically, alkyl (meth)
(Meth) such as acrylate, siloxanyl (meth) acrylate, fluoroalkyl (meth) acrylate, hydroxyalkyl (meth) acrylate, polyethylene glycol (meth) acrylate, (meth) acrylic acid ester of polyhydric alcohol, vinyl (meth) acrylate Examples thereof include acrylic acid esters, styrene derivatives, N-vinyl lactam, vinyl compounds such as vinyl (polyvalent) carboxylate, and the like. More specifically, for example, styrene, acrylic acid, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, phenyl acrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate, 2-hydroxypropyl acrylate, methacrylic acid, methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, n. -Butyl methacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate, isobornyl methacrylate, benzyl methacrylate, phenyl methacrylate, 2-methacryloyloxyethyl succinic acid, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 2-
Examples thereof include hydroxypropyl methacrylate, 2-hydroxybutyl methacrylate, fumaric acid and esters thereof, methacrylonitrile, N, N-dimethylacrylamide, N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone and the like.

Further, as a cross-linking agent, ethylene glycol di (meth) acrylate, diethylene glycol di (meth) acrylate, triethylene glycol di (meth)
Acrylate, propylene glycol di (meth) acrylate, trimethylolpropane tri (meth) acrylate, pentaerythritol tri (meth) acrylate, 1,4-butanediol di (meth) acrylate,
It is also possible to use polyfunctional monomers such as 1,6-hexanediol di (meth) acrylate, glycerin di (meth) acrylate, divinylbenzene diallyl phthalate, and diethylene glycol bisallyl carbonate.

The characteristics of these polymerizable monomers used,
That is, it is necessary to consider the viscosity, the volume shrinkage rate, the polymerization rate, etc., and to select a suitable polymerization method, type of polymerization initiator, addition amount, etc.

[0031]

A resin mold for manufacturing a contact lens and a method of manufacturing a contact lens using the same according to the present invention use a modified polyolefin as a material of at least a male mold of the resin mold, particularly a polyolefin having an alicyclic ring in its main chain. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a high-quality contact lens having excellent optical properties and having a smooth surface that does not damage the cornea at low cost.

[0032]

[Examples] The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples.
The present invention is not limited to these.

Example 1 In this example, a modified polyolefin (trade name ZEONEX 280: manufactured by Nippon Zeon Co., Ltd.) was used as a material for the male mold shown in FIG. 1 and the female mold shown in FIG. The BC optical surface curvature of 7.2
A resin mold manufactured by injection molding was used with the FC optical surface of the female mold having a curvature of 7.70 mm. As the polymerizable monomer, 2,3-dihydroxypropyl methacrylate 70 parts by weight, methyl methacrylate 28 parts by weight, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate 1 part by weight,
A mixture was prepared by thoroughly mixing 0.5 parts by weight of 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide, and deaeration and nitrogen substitution of this mixture were used. This mixture was filled in the above resin mold, and this was irradiated with ultraviolet rays at a distance of 10 cm for 100 seconds using an 80 W / cm high pressure mercury lamp. The obtained contact lens was swollen in pure water, washed, and then immersed in physiological saline to absorb a predetermined amount of water, and at the same time, elution of the eluate was completed.

The soft contact lens thus obtained had a smooth surface and had no voids on the surface or inside the contact lens. The BC of this soft contact lens was 8.60 mm and the power was -3.00 D, and the optical performance was very excellent.

Example 2 In this example, a modified polyolefin (trade name ZEONEX 480S: manufactured by Nippon Zeon Co., Ltd.) was used as a material for the male mold shown in FIG. 1 and the female mold shown in FIG. The BC optical surface curvature of 7.2
A resin mold manufactured by injection molding was used with a female FC optical surface curvature of 7.70 mm. As the polymerizable monomer, 97 parts by weight of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 2 parts by weight of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and 0.5 parts by weight of 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide were well mixed, and the mixture was deaerated, What was nitrogen-substituted was used. This mixture was filled in the above resin mold, and this was irradiated with ultraviolet rays at a distance of 10 cm for 100 seconds using an 80 W / cm high pressure mercury lamp. The obtained contact lens was swollen in pure water, washed, and then immersed in physiological saline to absorb a predetermined amount of water, and at the same time, elution of the eluate was completed.

The thus-obtained soft contact lens had a smooth surface and had no voids on the surface or inside of the contact lens. The BC of this soft contact lens was 8.60 mm and the power was -3.00 D, and the optical performance was very excellent.

Example 3 In this example, a modified polyolefin (trade name APO: manufactured by Mitsui Petrochemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was used as the material for the male mold shown in FIG. 1 and the female mold shown in FIG.
And the curvature of the male BC optical surface is set to 6.90 mm,
A resin mold manufactured by injection molding was used with the curvature of the FC optical surface of the female mold being 7.65 mm. As the polymerizable monomer, 70 parts by weight of 2,3-dihydroxypropyl methacrylate, 28 parts by weight of methyl methacrylate, 1 part by weight of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 2,4,6
0.5 parts by weight of trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide were mixed well, and the mixture was deaerated and replaced with nitrogen. This mixture was filled in the above resin mold, and this was irradiated with ultraviolet rays at a distance of 10 cm for 100 seconds using an 80 W / cm high pressure mercury lamp. The contact lens obtained is swollen in pure water, washed, and then immersed in physiological saline to absorb a predetermined amount of water, and at the same time,
Elution of the eluate was completed.

The soft contact lens thus obtained had a smooth surface and had no voids on the surface or inside the contact lens. The BC of this soft contact lens was 8.20 mm, and the power was -8.00 D, and the optical performance was very excellent.

Example 4 In this example, a modified polyolefin (trade name ZE) was used as the male material shown in FIG.
ONEX280: used by Nippon Zeon Co., Ltd., BC
A resin mold manufactured by injection molding was used in which the optical surface had a curvature of 7.25 mm, polypropylene was used as the material of the female mold shown in FIG. 5, and the FC formation surface had a curvature of 7.2 mm. As the polymerizable monomer, 70 parts by weight of 2,3-dihydroxypropyl methacrylate, 28 parts by weight of methyl methacrylate, 1 part by weight of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and 0.5 parts by weight of 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide were mixed well. The mixture was degassed and replaced with nitrogen. The above resin mold was filled with this mixture, and 80 W /
Ultraviolet rays were irradiated for 200 seconds at a distance of 10 cm using a cm high pressure mercury lamp. After curing, the female mold was removed from the male mold, the male mold to which the semi-finished lens was adhered was mounted on a lathe for lens cutting, the FC side of the lens was cut with a curvature of 7.70 mm, and then the FC side surface was polished. The obtained contact lens was swollen in pure water, washed, and then immersed in physiological saline to absorb a predetermined amount of water, and at the same time, elution of the eluate was completed.

The soft contact lens thus obtained had a smooth surface and had no voids on the surface or inside of the contact lens. The BC of this soft contact lens was 8.60 mm and the power was -3.00 D, and the optical performance was very excellent.

Example 5 In this example, a modified polyolefin (trade name APO: manufactured by Mitsui Petrochemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was used as the material for the male mold shown in FIG. 4 and the female mold shown in FIG.
And the curvature of the male BC optical surface is 7.80 mm,
Further, a resin mold manufactured by injection molding was used with the curvature of the FC forming surface of the female mold being 7.5 mm. As the polymerizable monomer, 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate 46 parts by weight, tris (trimethylsiloxy) silylpropyl methacrylate 40 parts by weight, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate 10 parts by weight, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate 3 parts by weight, 2 0.24 parts by weight of 4,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide was mixed well, and the mixture was deaerated and replaced with nitrogen. This mixture was filled in the above resin mold, and
30 at a distance of 15 cm using a 0 W / cm high pressure mercury lamp
It was irradiated with ultraviolet rays for 0 seconds. After curing, attach the male mold to the lens cutting lathe with the two molds still in alignment
After cutting the side with a curvature of 8.10 mm, the FC side surface was polished.

The contact lens thus obtained had a smooth surface, and there were no voids on the surface or inside the contact lens. The BC of this contact lens is 7.
At 80 mm, the power was -2.00 D, and the optical performance was very good.

Example 6 In this example, a modified polyolefin (trade name ZEONEX 480S: manufactured by Nippon Zeon Co., Ltd.) was used as a material for the male mold shown in FIG. 1 and the female mold shown in FIG. The BC optical surface curvature of 7.2
A resin mold manufactured by injection molding was used with a female FC optical surface curvature of 7.70 mm. As the polymerizable monomer, 97 parts by weight of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 2 parts by weight of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and 0.2 parts by weight of azobis (2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile) were mixed well, and the mixture was degassed, nitrogen-containing. The one with substitution was used. The above resin mold was filled with this mixture, and the mixture was put into a hot-air circulation type constant temperature bath.
Heat at 0 ° C. for 10 hours, 90 ° C. for 5 hours. The obtained contact lens was swollen in pure water, washed, and then immersed in physiological saline to absorb a predetermined amount of water, and at the same time, elution of the eluate was completed.

The soft contact lens thus obtained had a smooth surface and had no voids on the surface or inside the contact lens. The BC of this soft contact lens was 8.60 mm and the power was -3.00 D, and the optical performance was very excellent.

Example 7 In this example, a modified polyolefin (trade name ZEONEX 280: manufactured by Nippon Zeon Co., Ltd.) was used as a material for the male mold shown in FIG. 4 and the female mold shown in FIG. The BC optical surface curvature of 7.2
The resin mold manufactured by injection molding was used with the curvature of the FC forming surface of the female mold being 7.2 mm. In addition,
The male mold used here was subjected to plasma treatment. As a plasma treatment method, the male mold was placed in a plasma apparatus, and the treatment was performed in an argon atmosphere with a vacuum degree of 0.1 Torr at a discharge frequency of 13.56 MHz and a discharge power of 200 W for 3 minutes. As the polymerizable monomer, 97 parts by weight of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 2 parts by weight of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and 0.5 parts by weight of 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide were well mixed, and the mixture was deaerated, What was nitrogen-substituted was used. This mixture was filled in the above resin mold, and this was irradiated with ultraviolet rays at a distance of 10 cm for 100 seconds using an 80 W / cm high pressure mercury lamp. After curing, the female mold was removed from the male mold, and the male mold to which the semi-finished lens was adhered was mounted on a lathe for lens cutting, the FC side of the lens was cut with a curvature of 7.72 mm, and then the FC side surface was polished. The obtained contact lens was swollen in pure water, washed, and then immersed in physiological saline to absorb a predetermined amount of water, and at the same time, elution of the eluate was completed.

The soft contact lens thus obtained had a smooth surface and had no voids on the surface or inside the contact lens. The BC of this soft contact lens was 8.60 mm and the power was -3.00 D, and the optical performance was very excellent.

Comparative Example 1 In this comparative example, a contact lens was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that polypropylene was used as the material for the male mold shown in FIG. 1 and the female mold shown in FIG. . In the same manner as in Example 1, after swelling in pure water, washing, and immersion in physiological saline to absorb a predetermined amount of water, elution of eluate was completed.

The soft contact lens thus obtained was inferior in surface accuracy to the contact lens obtained in Example 1 and had insufficient optical performance.

(Comparative Example 2) In this comparative example, a contact lens was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that polycarbonate was used as the material for the male mold shown in FIG. 1 and the female mold shown in FIG. The resin mold was firmly adhered, and the contact lens was damaged when the contact lens was released from the resin mold. Moreover, the surface of the contact lens was not a mirror surface, and the precision was poor.

[0050]

Industrial Applicability The resin mold for manufacturing a contact lens and the method of manufacturing a contact lens using the same according to the present invention use a modified polyolefin as a material of at least a male mold of the resin mold, particularly a polyolefin having an alicyclic ring in its main chain. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a high-quality contact lens having excellent optical properties and having a smooth surface that does not damage the cornea at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a male mold for manufacturing a contact lens used in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a female mold for manufacturing a contact lens used in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an assembled sectional view of a resin mold for manufacturing a contact lens used in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a male mold for manufacturing a contact lens used in Example 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a female mold for manufacturing a contact lens used in Example 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an assembled sectional view of a resin mold for manufacturing a contact lens used in Example 4 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 BC optical surface 2 Male contact surface 3 FC optical surface 4 Female contact surface 5 Outer peripheral part 6 Lens-shaped space 7 BC optical surface 8 Female contact surface 9 Attachment when mounted on lathe 10 FC formation Surface 11 Female contact surface 12 Side contact surface 13 Lens-shaped space

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical display location B29L 11:00 4F (72) Inventor Fumiaki Akabane 3-3-5 Yamato, Suwa-shi, Nagano Seiko Epson Within the corporation

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A mold used in a method of manufacturing a contact lens by filling a polymerizable monomer into a space formed when a male mold and a female mold are combined, and at least a male material of the resin mold. Is a modified polyolefin, which is a resin mold for manufacturing a contact lens. 2. A polymerizable monomer is filled in a space formed when a male mold and a female mold are combined, and the mixture is polymerized by irradiating it with a light beam. This mold is used in the method of manufacturing a contact lens by attaching the male mold to the lens cutting lathe with the mold removed and cutting the front curve side of the lens, and at least the male mold material of this resin mold is A resin mold for manufacturing a contact lens, which is a modified polyolefin. 3. The resin mold for producing a contact lens according to claim 1, wherein the modified polyolefin is a polyolefin having an alicyclic ring in its main chain. 4. A resin mold, wherein at least a male mold is made of a modified polyolefin, and a lens-shaped space is formed when the male mold and the female mold are combined,
A method for producing a contact lens, which comprises filling the space with a polymerizable monomer and polymerizing the monomer to obtain a contact lens. 5. A resin mold, wherein at least a male mold material is a modified polyolefin, the male mold and the female mold are combined, a space formed between them is filled with a polymerizable monomer, and a light beam is irradiated on the polymerizable monomer. After the polymerization, the male mold is attached to the lens cutting lathe in a state where the two molds remain in the same state or the female mold is removed, and the front curve side of the lens is cut and processed. . 6. The method for producing a contact lens according to claim 4, wherein the modified polyolefin is a polyolefin having an alicyclic ring in its main chain.