Contact Lens ordering without a new prescription?

August 20, 2020 10:22 AM

I wear glasses always and contacts occasionally. It's been a few years since I've gotten a new contacts prescription, but my glasses are maybe a year old. My prescription for both has been stable for basically forever, 20+ years ago. I don't really want to have go get this confirmed right now with, you know, all this. Is there anywhere that will sell me the contact lenses I want based on my existing prescription without having to verify it through an optometrist?

Thank you for your concern, I will assuredly go to optometrist when it is safer to do so. In the meantime I'd love to have some contacts around, particularly for times that I have to wear a mask for an extended period of time.

posted by dirtdirt to Shopping (11 answers total)

I just did this through ContactLensKing. I didn’t have a copy of the old prescription, but they accepted pictures of my old lens boxes. (I don’t know if that’s always their policy or if it’s a Covid thing).

If you have a high prescription (so are at increased risk for glaucoma) it’s a good idea to still make sure you go in before too long; I plan on doing so myself assuming in another year that it’s possible.
posted by nat at 10:35 AM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

I was able to take a weird virtual eye exam thing through 1-800-CONTACTS a few months ago. I provided the current prescription from my contact lens boxes, took the eye exam on my phone (really!), and they issued a new prescription which I then used to order new contacts. I highly recommend it for anyone who knows they don’t need a new prescription.
posted by okayokayigive at 11:01 AM on August 20, 2020 [7 favorites]

I did the same virtual exam at 1-800-Contacts as okayokayigive and sent the resulting prescription to a different online contact lens provider, worked out fine.
posted by tangaroo at 11:06 AM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Hubble will, even though your eye doctor won't like it.
posted by capnsue at 11:14 AM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

I am a third voice saying that I did the 1-800-CONTACTS exam.

It felt a little goofy: you set down a laptop and stand a measured ten feet away, then it shows you letters -- just like a real optometrist! (Mind you, I got to my eye doctor a few months later and had the Rx confirmed, which was good.)
posted by wenestvedt at 11:23 AM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

One thing I will advise against is ordering contacts from outside the US as a workaround. I used to work for a certain federal agency in the safety enforcement division that intercepts straight up counterfeit products all the time. Contact lenses were always the number one problem product. Nonsterile, contaminated with all sorts of biological and chemical no-nos, made of weird materials, but with glossy familiar packaging that makes people think they're getting what they expect. Clever, but gross.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 12:09 PM on August 20, 2020 [8 favorites]

I've used the 1800-CONTACTS method mentioned and took my new prescription over to Coastal Contacts, which is cheaper.

I also got the free box of contacts from Hubble and don't recommend it; they're made of an old cheap material that hasn't been used since the 80s, and you have to call during business hours to cancel. Whole thing seemed scammy.
posted by Juliet Banana at 12:27 PM on August 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

My spouse works as an optician for a US national chain retailer of eyeglasses and contact lenses. They very explicitly have a policy of not doing this because of the importance of having an optometrist evaluate the health of your eyes regularly with contact lens use. Contacts are hard on your corneas and cause all kinds of small scratches and microscopic scarring over time. In and of itself this isn't terrible but it does mean you're at increased risk for various kinds of health problems with your eyes when you wear contacts, and an optometrist can detect if this is starting to become a problem. She's had to deal with a lot of customers in your situation over the last several months, some of whom get really upset that they have to come in for an eye exam rather than continuing to use an expired prescription, but that's the company's policy. Her store does have a strict mask policy and a specialized cleaning and sanitation protocol that's been implemented to reduce the spread of COVID, and the doctors that work there believe that the benefits of getting a proper eye exam outweigh the risk of COVID exposure given the controls that they have in place. Her experience is that sources like 1-800-CONTACTS are not consistent in the product they send and she wouldn't recommend them for safe, reliable contact lenses.

If you are concerned enough about the risk of COVID in your area that you don't want to see an optometrist to update your prescription, I'd suggest sticking with eyeglasses until you feel safe enough getting a proper eye exam. (You should also be sure to be extra careful when placing or removing your contacts if you continue to use them; I'm not aware of whether the eyes have been specifically implicated as a route of entry for SARS-CoV-2, but you are introducing a foreign object to a mucous membrane which in general greatly increases the risk of infection.) Your vision is also extremely important and not something to mess with, and continuing to wear contact lenses without being checked out by an optometrist or ophthalmologist increases the small but real risk of damage to and infection of your eyes.
posted by biogeo at 1:35 PM on August 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

Best answer: 393lens.com. Yes they are in Hong Kong. Yes they don't require a copy of your prescription. Yes the contacts are cheaper. They are highly rated and I've used them for a couple years now. Most boxes I've gotten have actually been made in USA. Some in Ireland. Very similar mix to my 4x as much from the optometrist boxes. I highly recommend them.


Last time I wrote a note thanking them for worki g during coronavirus and understood if there were delays. They hand wrote a note with my order thanking me for previous orders and patience and threw in a free box.
posted by chasles at 2:41 PM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Saveonlens.com is great. Based in Canada, but US orders ship from Washington. I’ve ordered from them for years, no issues. Their help section says they require a prescription but they’ve never asked me for one.
posted by ortoLANparty at 5:48 PM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

I just used saveonlens.com last month. I got the exact same make and model of lenses I’ve been wearing for several years. I have no complaints.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:02 PM on August 20, 2020 [1 favorite]