16
votes
Contact lenses to USA without a current prescription?
I am a couple weeks away from running out of daily contacts. Going to the optometrist every year when nothing has changed is a giant ripoff. I just noticed that the site I've used previously from the UK will no longer deliver to the USA. Does anyone in a similar situation have a store they order from?
Legally you must have a valid prescription to order contacts in the US. If you want to be unlawful, most retailers don't particularly check the prescription all that hard, but you have to accept the risks that you're committing numerous crimes if falsify the prescription, some of which are felonies, although it's somewhat unlikely to be prosecuted.
This is the as wondering what the point of having car insurance is when you've never been in an accident. How do you even know that your eyes haven't changed without going to an optometrist? Especially as a contacts wearer, you are exposed to more risks than people who don't. It's important to go the optometrist and have your eyes checked for problems, and that the contacts you're using (and how you use them) are not having an adverse effect on you.
You only have 1 pair of eyes.
You also might subjectively perceive your vision to be the same even though it's gotten worse, since your brain will get used to it and fill in some details. Ask for a longer prescription if you've been stable for a while, but it's a really bad idea to cut the optometrist/ophthalmologist entirely from the process.
I went every year from ages 13-31. It wasn't until those last two years when the prescription finally stopped getting worse. Which was important because I got Lasik after that.
It's always been weird to me how people are fine just letting their vision get worse. If you're wearing corrective lenses, you might as well make sure they're always correct.
especially with contacts, where you have to keep buying new ones anyways.
As far as I know, you need a valid prescription to get contacts delivered. My opthalmologist gives me a 2-3 year script that I reuse.
If you have an old prescription just try uploading it when you order. I've submitted online orders at 1800 contacts before and when it asked me to upload a prescription I just uploaded my expired one and it accepted it. No one is actually checking and apparently their AI (at the time) couldn't read the handwritten, poorly scanned prescription I uploaded. If it doesn't work there just try some other websites. The one thing I definitely wouldn't do is actually trying to photoshop or tamper with the prescription itself.
The other thing I've done before is order a 2+ year supply the day before the prescription expires.
I wouldn't actively falsify it. But printing it, scanning it, and then maliciously boosting the image contrast so the text washes out a bit, and then finally cranking up the JPG compression so I get a nice small upload? I see nothing wrong with that.
Let the image recognition AI work for its money.
Your employer should provide a vision benefit that covers most or all of this cost, plus some of the cost of contacts or glasses. As a contacts wearer, you probably do want an eye exam every year even if your prescription doesn't change. They do a lot more than just test your vision.
Of course then we are getting into the depressing weeds that is basic healthcare in the US being tied to your employer...
You can try Fresh Lens; I used them when I was on a tighter budget and didn't have vision coverage.
Back when I used them the first time, they requested prescription verification, so I literally searched Google Images for a contact lens prescription, printed it out and filled it out, took a picture and sent it to them, and they shipped my order (and never asked for a new prescription in the years that followed).
They recently shut down and then restarted about six months later, so I'm not sure if they finally got a wrist slapping for being too loose with prescription verification, but I saw that they now have an option to do an eye test online for $15 (or free on orders of $200 or more). Might be worth a shot.
Quick question- in the US do you have to go to an actual doctor to get a prescription for lenses?
In most countries I've been to, you walk into an optical shop and the optometrist tests your vision on site. The test itself is free if you then purchase a new pair of glasses/contact lenses but IIRC in my friendly neighborhood opticians it's somewhat under 50 USD (equivalent in Singapore dollars) to just do the test.
Is this another aspect of the byzantine American health provision system? Having a concept like vision coverage through insurance is bizarre.
It’s pretty much the same. Most eyeglass shops have an optometrist in house (in fact, most Walmarts and targets in the US have an optometrist). The exams are more expensive, the national average being $100, although many people will have some kind of vision insurance from work, and many retailers will offer discounts if you buy eyecare products from them.
Speaking of Walmart and Target, both the optometrists and pharmacists there went to the same schools as the ones in private offices, the eye doctor uses the same equipment.
With the caveat of if you have a medical issue that can impact your eyes, you should probably go to a specialist, and your medical insurance will be billed, because of course it will. Said specialist may still be an optometrist, but likely not at a box store. Things you learn.
There is a large contacts retail website that starts with three numbers (not sure I’m allowed to mention them by name). They offer an online eye exam for 20 dollars. It works in a pinch.
Just to spare anyone the effort of looking like I did, I think it would actually be 4 numbers and it would be 1-800 Contacts. There's nothing wrong with mentioning a brand/company name, so long as it's relevant to the topic and not just shilling everywhere at any possible chance and even less of an issue if there's no referral links or such involved.
The expiring prescription is just a scam perpetrated by the industry to get you back to the doctor so they can charge you a yearly visit fee. Just take photoshop a prescription, upload it to 1-800-CONTACTS and get whatever you need. Easiest if you have an old prescription and you can just change the expiration date and add a little noise to the entire image.