ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,420,501, issued on Sept. 23, was assigned to Alcon Inc. (Fribourg, Switzerland).
"Silicone hydrogel lenses with water-rich surfaces" was invented by Yongxing Qiu (Suwanee, Ga.), John Dallas Pruitt (Suwanee, Ga.), Sibichen J. Thekveli (Alpharetta, Ga.), Robert Carey Tucker (Johns Creek, Ga.) and Jared Nelson (Buford, Ga.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention is related to a hydrated silicone hydrogel contact lens having a layered structural configuration: a lower water content silicone hydrogel core (or bulk material) completely covered with a layer of a higher water content hydrogel totally or substantially free of silicone. A hy...