Which Contact Lenses No Prescription is Necessary?

Many people believe that when you buy colored contact lenses no prescription is necessary.  However, that is a myth and it's important to know why. 

It seems, at first, that if you have great vision and don't need corrective lenses, that you should be able to just order contact lenses online without having to see an eye doctor.  However, it's important to realize why believing that with colored contact lenses no prescription is necessary can be dangerous and, believe it or not, illegal. 

Up until 2004, eye care professionals were not required to give you your contact lense prescription after an eye appointment.  This put a lot of power in the hands of the eye care professionals, who could charge what they wanted and carry only the brand name contact lenses that they wanted to.  On the other hand, it also allowed the eye care professionals to closely monitor their patients and ensure that their contact lenses purchase was the best choice for the patient. 

However, with important legislation that passed in 2004, consumers now have the right to receive their written prescription from the eye doctor, without having to buy the lenses from that doctor.  This allows the consumer to take the prescription home, shop around for the cheapest contact lenses, and buy their lenses wherever they like.  This gives the consumer much more freedom and control over their contact lense prices. 

On the other hand, this opens up plenty of opportunity for the consumer to not follow safe practices when it comes to the health of their eyes.   Some people might try to skip the visit to the eye doctor to save time and money, and just use a previous contact lense prescription that may have expired.  This is dangerous because eyes do change; and an outdated prescription can cause permanent damage to your eye.

Other people might believe that they can just take their eyeglass prescription and transfer it over.  However, this won't work, because contact lense prescriptions have additional measurements that aren't taken with eyeglass prescriptions; since contacts need to be fitted specifically to your eye. 

And others, especially those who do not require corrective lenses and just want lenses to change the color of their eyes, understandably believe that with certain contact lenses no prescription is necessary.  After all, if you can see just fine, why do you need a prescription?  Because, as stated above, contact lenses need to be fitted to your particular eye, otherwise an improperly fit lens can cause discomfort, abrasions, and permanent damage or even vision loss. 

In order to prevent these mistakes, the online suppliers and manufacturers require that when ordering contact lenses through them, you must supply not only your exact prescription but also the name and contact information of the doctor from whom you received your prescription.  In theory, the supplier is supposed to call the doctor and confirm that you did, indeed, receive your contact lense prescription from him or her; within the last year.   Of course, dishonest contact lens suppliers might not adhere to this practice, which opens up loopholes for those who don't realize how important the health of their eyes really is. 

As you can see, although at first glance it might appear that with certain contact lenses no prescription is necessary, getting a proper prescription is actually the most important thing you can do to maintain the health of your eyes. 

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