People who wear contact lenses face the same ritual, annually or however long they can stretch it out: They have to visit their optometrist or ophthalmologist to have their vision checked and their eyes examined before they can buy more lenses. A few startups are out to change this routine by giving users an eye exam on their computer or smartphone. But is that legal? It depends on where you live. [More]
contact lenses
Reminder: Do Not Buy Cool-Looking Cosmetic Contact Lenses Without A Prescription
By 10.18.16
Halloween is coming, and that means some people are looking for cosmetic contact lenses to give their costumes even more authenticity. The problem with that is that any retailer, in person or online, that’s selling cosmetic lenses without asking for your prescription first is doing something illegal and potentially dangerous. [More]
Owner Of Online Colored Contact Lens Store Pleads Guilty To Importing & Selling Counterfeit Lenses
By 9.9.16
Importing and selling counterfeit goods is against the law, so is selling imported contact lenses — even purely cosmetic ones — that haven’t been authorized by the FDA for stateside distribution. The Las Vegas owner of a website specializing in colored contact lenses has pleaded guilty to all of the above. [More]
Feds Accuse 1-800 Contacts Of Badvertising
By 8.8.16
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit today against 1-800 Contacts, accusing the online lens retailer of making agreements with more than a dozen competitors to not compete with each other for online search ads, resulting in lens buyers paying higher prices. [More]
Government Warns Eye Doctors: Provide Prescriptions After Eye Exams Or Else
By 5.13.16
It’s really easy to find eyeglass stores that also offer eye exams. You get your eyes checked, pick out the frames, and get the final product all from the same place, so you might not notice that you didn’t get a copy of your prescription after the exam. That’s against the law, and one federal agency is reminding eye doctors of the costly penalty for failing to provide prescriptions. [More]
Remember: Your Eye Doctor Should Give You Your Prescriptions After Your Exam
By 4.7.16
Generally, you don’t visit your doctor and then buy the medicine that she prescribes right from her office. Contact lenses are different: you generally order those directly from your doctor’s office, and you often order glasses from the same place too. Yet you don’t actually have to: you have the right to actually buy your glasses or contacts anywhere that you want, whether it’s for a better price or because you really like Warby Parker frames. [More]
New Contact Lens Solution Warnings Mean Fewer Users Getting Peroxide In Their Eyes
By 2.26.16
If anyone ever tries to convince you that life isn’t constantly getting better, remember this: only an average of three people each year since 2012 have stuck contact lenses soaked in hydrogen peroxide in their eyes and caused injuries bad enough to report to the Food and Drug Administration. 61 people did from 2010 to 2011. The reason for this medical miracle? Red plastic. [More]
People Trust Optometrists More Than Costco Or 1800CONTACTS, At Least According To Optometrist Group
By 8.25.15
As we’ve previously reported, there’s a legal war going on — with optometrists and manufacturers on one side, and discount and online retailers on the other — over how much you should have to pay for your contact lenses. Both sides of this battle have recently released surveys they hope will help win over public opinion. [More]
CDC Says: Most Contact Lens Wearers Aren’t So Great With Hygiene
By 8.20.15
If you wear contact lenses, you’ve probably had that moment when you wake up and realize you fell asleep with your lenses in, making your eyes feel gluey and dry. Or perhaps you’ve got extended wear contacts and have gotten accustomed to leaving them in for long periods of time. The Centers for Disease Control says you’re not alone — most contact lens wearers aren’t always so great with hygiene, and many wear their lenses for longer periods than they’re supposed to. [More]
Court Allows Utah To Ban Price-Fixing Of Contact Lenses
By 6.15.15
Contact lens companies have been working together to create price floors for their products, prohibiting retailers from offering competitive discounts and removing consumers’ ability to shop around for savings. Legislators in Utah recently passed a bill that would outlaw this practice but in May a federal appeals court temporarily blocked it from being enacted. But on Friday, the court vacated that injunction, allowing the new law to move forward. [More]
Appeals Court Blocks Utah Law That Would Have Banned Price-Fixing On Contact Lenses
By 5.14.15
In recent years, many of the country’s biggest contact lens manufacturers moved to set minimum sale prices for their products, meaning any retailer wishing to discount these lenses couldn’t go below that price floor. The practice — which would have been illegal until a 2007 Supreme Court ruling — has come under scrutiny from federal lawmakers, and Utah state legislators passed a bill earlier this year that would outlaw this form of price-fixing in the state. However, a federal appeals court has temporarily sided with the lens makers and blocked that law from being enforced. [More]
Swiss Researchers Working On Telescopic Contact Lenses That Activate With A Wink
By 2.16.15
Though the idea of having anything other than a regular contact lens on one’s eye might provoke a few uncomfortable blinks just thinking about it for some, there could be a whole lot more going on to aid human vision in the future, with developments made recently by Swiss researchers working on contacts that have tiny telescopes in them. [More]
Optometrist Knows I Want To Buy Contacts Online, Won't Give Me My Prescription
By 8.16.12
In all of the chatter over our post about prescriptions at the vet’s office, many people commented that this kind of conflict is exactly why human doctors don’t sell us the medications we need from right behind the counter. The thing is, there is a kind of human doctor who does just that. I speak, of course, of the optometrist: dispenser of contact lenses and crusher of dreams. [More]
HD Contact Lenses Will Increase The Resolution Of Your Eyeballs
By 3.30.12
I just got back from a long-overdue visit to the local vision-correction emporium, where I learned that for all these years, I’ve been fumbling through life only able to see 480 lines of resolution through my contact lenses. But now there are HD contact lenses. Bausch & Lomb’s PureVision2 HD lenses have been out for some time now, and I’m just learning about this upgrade to reality now. [More]
Steps To Cut Costs For Glasses And Contacts
By 2.20.12
It can be expensive to keep your sight straight. Thankfully there are ways to keep down the costs for glasses or contact lenses. [More]
Don't Rinse With This Contact Lens Solution Unless You Want Burned Corneas
By 6.4.10
Do you wear contact lenses? Do you enjoy having un-scorched corneas? Then you should look out for Clear Care, a contact lens solution that uses peroxide to disinfect lenses. Used correctly, the peroxide cleans lenses nicely and is neutralized by the time you wake up. When used incorrectly to rinse lenses right before inserting them in your eyes, the product causes chemical burns to the cornea and copious screaming. [More]
1-800-Contacts Comes Through For Your Eyes In An Emergency
By 5.20.10
1-800-Contacts is the rare company where an actual human picks up the phone when you call–no maze of phone menus. Peter tells Consumerist that he had a fantastic experience where a customer service rep went above and beyond in the service of the health of his eyes. [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Affects Innocent Eyeballs and Adorable Babies
By 4.29.09
Reader Dan noticed something different when buying a new can of formula for his daughter (at left.) Her delicious colic-preventing formula had been hit by the dread grocery shrink ray. Waaah!
