Contacts Online

February 6, 2004 6:15 PM

Online contact lenses. For the past year or two, I have been ordering contact lenses online. I've never been asked for a doctor's prescription before. Now it seems no site will allow me to order contact lenses without a doctor's prescription. What happened? The doctor who I saw for my contact lenses, I've long since forgotten his name. I just got a eyeglass checkup but skipped the contact lens because mine are working fine, and are cheaper online. Is there a canadien or foreign contact lens company someone can recommend that doesn't require a prescription?
posted by patrickje to Shopping (5 answers total)

Depending on the state that you're buying from, the law requires that you have a Rx within X amount of years to purchase contacts.
That being said, I've bought contacts online without having a current prescription....the order form just asked for my optometrist's contact information, which I believe is one of the standard practices for the online contact sellers. However, the companies I've purchased from never called and verified the Rx. I'll leave you to make your own conclusions from there.
posted by dicaxpuella at 6:43 PM on February 6, 2004

Hmmm. Which companies would these be?
posted by kindall at 6:58 PM on February 6, 2004

Or, you can order from a company that doesn't give a crap. I use these guys.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:36 PM on February 6, 2004

canadien or foreign contact

Habs contacts. I'm kidding--I really couldn't resist.
posted by The God Complex at 10:04 PM on February 6, 2004

In the US, contact lens prescriptions are good for only a year. My experience was that they were diligent in making sure you had an Rx when I opened my account, but the same company never again asked for one for 5 years or so.
posted by Fupped Duck at 1:55 PM on February 7, 2004