Contact lens coating for wettability and comfort

Plasma activation and internal wetting agents both raise surface wettability, and both are established for good reasons. Their limitation is duration. A plasma-treated surface performs well at first and the effect is temporary, and drops and surfactants leave through the tear duct within minutes to hours, after which dryness and irritation return. LipoCoat® is a phospholipid bilayer of 5 nanometers that binds to the lens surface and stays there for at least 6 months, so wettability and lubricity become properties of the lens rather than of something the wearer keeps reapplying. It improves lubricity on any base material and contains no PTFE, no silicone and no PFAS.

In a clinical study, participants ranked LipoCoat® coated contact lenses as the overall best performing and the most comfortable lenses in the test, with significant results for handling during insertion and removal and for average end-of-day comfort. Tear film stability improved by 19 percent on non-invasive break-up time (NIBUT) compared with the uncoated lens. End-of-day comfort is where the commercial case sits: between 15 and 34 percent of wearers stop wearing lenses each year because of dry eyes, friction and irritation late in the day (Dumbleton et al., Eye & Contact Lens 2013;39(1):93-99). The underlying study data is available on request.

Once applied, LipoCoat® stays on the lens for at least 6 months and keeps the surface hydrated across that period. Because it is bound at the molecular level rather than applied as a film on top of the lens, there is no reservoir that depletes and nothing that leaches away, so performance does not fall off partway through the wear cycle. Durability figures for a specific lens material and care regime are part of a feasibility study rather than a general claim.

Rigid gas permeable (RGP) materials are our proven area, and the coating has shown improved wettability and improved lubricity on several commonly used RGP lens materials. At platform level the chemistry is also compatible with hydrogels and silicone hydrogels. Alongside the lens itself we work on bio-based contact lens sprays and bio-based eye drops, so one surface principle can run across a lens portfolio and the care products around it. For a material we have not coated before, we start with a feasibility study.

No. LipoCoat® contains no antibiotics and no biocides, so it does not move your lens into the ancillary substance route and there is no mechanism through which bacterial resistance can develop. It works in two passive ways. The hydration layer keeps proteins and micro-organisms from adhering in the first place, which is what limits the protein deposits behind blurry vision and, in severe cases, inflammation or infection. And instead of simply repelling tear fluid, the surface binds and stabilizes lysozyme, the enzyme the eye uses for its own antibacterial defense, accumulating more than 90 percent more of it than an uncoated lens. The coating has passed the relevant ISO 10993 biocompatibility tests, is made entirely from non-animal bio-based components, and is produced under an ISO 13485:2016 quality system.

The coating is applied by a single-step dip coating process at room temperature. There is no curing step, no polymerization and no UV, and no specialized handling, storage or disposal protocol, so it fits into an existing manufacturing workflow instead of requiring a new one. Material consumption per lens is minimal, and the coating sits on top of your current portfolio without a lengthy pharmaceutical classification route. Three engagement models are open: we coat your components in our ISO 13485 facility, we transfer the process into your own line, or we develop jointly from formulation through to the regulatory package.