6 ms·

Contact lens startup Hubble sold lenses with a fake prescription

11 points by ilamont 9y ago

ganoushoreilly 9y ago
I've not input prescription in 800 contacts in years and consistently order contacts without a problem. I don't think this as unique a situation as is being implied.
- piptastic 9y ago
  I've had them kick-back two or three times that a prescription was required and they couldn't reach my eye doctor (from 2001). I generally just re-submit it the next day and it goes through.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
tlb 9y ago
Can an incorrect prescription can cause permanent eye damage? What is requiring a prescription supposed to protect someone from, other than protecting the optometrists' business model? I've been making up my own prescriptions for years. I had the astigmatism measured, but I like to set my own reading power to focus on my screen in the most comfortable position.
- joecool1029 9y ago
  >Can an incorrect prescription can cause permanent eye damage? There's a few ways you could get eye damage from even a correct prescription. One way is corneal staining (basically scratches on your eye) that becomes a bigger issue with some sorts of contact solution and contacts worn past their expected time. Improperly fitted contacts can cause irritation and damage. There are many types of contacts suited to different wear patterns. There are also formulations of silicone hydrogels where people are allergic to the wetting agent. A doctor should be able to figure this out and switch you to a different composition if this poses a problem. Other issues are infection and oxygen starvation. The cornea absorbs oxygen and when you have an old contact in for too long the eye does things like grow veins where they should not be, eventually causing blindness.[1] Long story short, you should be getting checkups to make sure your eye isn't getting screwed up from contact lens wear, but under the situation of being stuck with old pairs or getting replacements without a script, I'd say the latter is probably safer. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_neovascularization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_neovascularization
- leeoniya 9y ago
  > Can an incorrect prescription can cause permanent eye damage? not from a correction power perspective. your brain can accommodate to some degree and you may strain your eye muscles and/or get headaches. but you won't get damage from that. you can get damage if the contacts are not fitted well and get corneal abrasions etc or bacteria buildup if you over-wear. however, you should still go in to see an eye doctor once in a while. my wife's an optometrist and she has saved several people's lives by finding brain tumors and other serious systemic issues by looking at ocular health.
- jessriedel 9y ago
  I think the best defense of this rule is that (1) visiting the optometrist for time-to-time has early-prevention benefits that outweigh the exam costs and (2) requiring a new prescription when people get glasses/contacts forces people to have this exam. Not exactly honest, but plausibly net good.
- lutorm 9y ago
  Requiring a prescription ensures that you use the products under the care of a medical professional.
- kazinator 9y ago
  If it were so, reading glasses couldn't be sold off self-serve racks.
ythn 9y ago
Who cares? The whole eye prescription thing seems like a shakedown anyway. Keep paying for a new Rx every 2 years if you want new glasses/contacts even if you can still see crystal clear with your current prescription. I got a glasses prescription 5 years ago and haven't paid for another one because I can still see 20/20. I order my glasses from Zenni where you can just punch the prescription in and get the glasses in the mail. This is a non-story.
kristofferR 9y ago
The US is such an absurd country. You can buy guns and a lot of serious drugs that are labelled as supplements freely, yet you need a prescription for lenses... Do you also need a prescription for glasses?
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  I mean, getting contacts/glasses without a prescription isn't going to do you much good. It's a little odd that it's mandatory, but I can't imagine any reason you'd want to do otherwise.
  - scotty79 9y ago
    If your last glasses broke somehow you can get new ones just buy measuring old lenses and making new ones same.
  - ythn 9y ago
    If you know your prescription you can order new glasses online without paying the optometry tax
  - toomanybeersies 9y ago
    I last got a prescription about 4 or 5 years ago, I haven't needed a new one since, my eyes haven't changed that much. In that time, I've also bought 4 or 5 pairs of glasses, I got Specsavers to print off my prescription, and just buy them online. It was interesting trying to get my prescription from Specsavers. By law, they are required to provide it if I ask for it, but they really didn't want to make it easy. They actually make a loss on eye tests ($30 for 20 minutes of an optometrist), because all their profit is in the glasses, so if I take my prescription elsewhere, I'm costing them money.
- koolba 9y ago
  Yes you need it for both contacts and glasses. The prescription must be current as well (past year). It’s truly a racket. If you break your glasses on day 366, you can’t get a new pair without paying the eye exam tax.
joecool1029 9y ago
I've been buying contact lenses online for around a decade now and never once had to prove I had a prescription. It's saved my ass a few times while traveling.
J5892 9y ago
No real prescription needed? Looks like I just found my new contacts provider.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  Why?
  - ythn 9y ago
    Because OP can order more cases of his current contacts without paying an optometrist for a "new" prescription
gumby 9y ago
I don't see the problem here (despite that fact I am not happy with companies that want to "disrupt" things by ignoring safety rules). Sounds like they followed the rules (as the article says, you can leave a voice mail and assume all's well if you hear nothing). And indeed the optometrist's association is a racket so no wonder they are squealing. By the way the "no news is good news" rule isn't that unusual: if you file an IND (request to experiment with a new drug or existing drug in a new way) the FDA has 30 days to tell you "no" or "wait, we need more info" -- no response is considered an OK (though they are free to push the stop button later). Although I have not had that happen (got positive OK from the agency) I have plenty of colleagues who have gone all the way (phase II, NDA even) without ever getting an IND response from the FDA. Let's save the outrage articles for deserving cases -- it's not like there's a shortage.
- geocar 9y ago
  I'm weirdly outraged at the author: It's a confused kind of outrage because on one hand, if she actually believes she's doing a public service by pointing out how lax the law is and how loose this company is being with public health, then maybe I want her to know civilised countries let you order contacts online without a prescription! It's a non-issue; nobody is going to lie about contact lenses, it's extremely low risk, and honestly, maybe the company should be praised (she just doesn't know it). On the other hand, if she's just into clickbait and doesn't care about public safety; that she's actually willing to hatchet-job a company, potentially ruin those employees lives, and cost anyone who needs contact lenses more money (which is wow! expensive in the US! A box of 30 lenses is like £8 here!), then seriously, what a jerk!
  - jdmichal 9y ago
    > civilised countries let you order contacts online without a prescription! > which is wow! expensive in the US! A box of 30 lenses is like £8 here! These two points are probably related.
scarface74 9y ago
I can't find a problem with this. If someone wants to fake a prescription, who are they harming besides themselves? But then again, I also think it's crazy that if I stopped by the drug store to buy some pseudoephedrine on my way to gun show, it would be illegal to sell the pseudoephedrine but legal to sell the gun.....
toomanybeersies 9y ago
The headline makes it sound like Hubble is sending people random lenses, that aren't the ones that they want from their prescription. The actual case is that they just skirt around the regulations that require a prescription. Where I live, we don't need a prescription for lenses, and we manage to survive.
kazinator 9y ago
I don't understand why Alison Griswold wrote an article to complain that an online business promptly and correctly filled her order. It's just a bunch of little lenses, not a shipment of plutonium. You can buy reading glasses in various diopters off a self-serve rack in pharmacies and other kinds of retail outlets.

11 points by ilamont 9y ago

I've not input prescription in 800 contacts in years and consistently order contacts without a problem. I don't think this as unique a situation as is being implied.

piptastic 9y ago
I've had them kick-back two or three times that a prescription was required and they couldn't reach my eye doctor (from 2001). I generally just re-submit it the next day and it goes through.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

tlb 9y ago

Can an incorrect prescription can cause permanent eye damage? What is requiring a prescription supposed to protect someone from, other than protecting the optometrists' business model? I've been making up my own prescriptions for years. I had the astigmatism measured, but I like to set my own reading power to focus on my screen in the most comfortable position.

joecool1029 9y ago
>Can an incorrect prescription can cause permanent eye damage? There's a few ways you could get eye damage from even a correct prescription. One way is corneal staining (basically scratches on your eye) that becomes a bigger issue with some sorts of contact solution and contacts worn past their expected time. Improperly fitted contacts can cause irritation and damage. There are many types of contacts suited to different wear patterns. There are also formulations of silicone hydrogels where people are allergic to the wetting agent. A doctor should be able to figure this out and switch you to a different composition if this poses a problem. Other issues are infection and oxygen starvation. The cornea absorbs oxygen and when you have an old contact in for too long the eye does things like grow veins where they should not be, eventually causing blindness.[1] Long story short, you should be getting checkups to make sure your eye isn't getting screwed up from contact lens wear, but under the situation of being stuck with old pairs or getting replacements without a script, I'd say the latter is probably safer. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_neovascularization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_neovascularization
leeoniya 9y ago
> Can an incorrect prescription can cause permanent eye damage? not from a correction power perspective. your brain can accommodate to some degree and you may strain your eye muscles and/or get headaches. but you won't get damage from that. you can get damage if the contacts are not fitted well and get corneal abrasions etc or bacteria buildup if you over-wear. however, you should still go in to see an eye doctor once in a while. my wife's an optometrist and she has saved several people's lives by finding brain tumors and other serious systemic issues by looking at ocular health.
jessriedel 9y ago
I think the best defense of this rule is that (1) visiting the optometrist for time-to-time has early-prevention benefits that outweigh the exam costs and (2) requiring a new prescription when people get glasses/contacts forces people to have this exam. Not exactly honest, but plausibly net good.
lutorm 9y ago
Requiring a prescription ensures that you use the products under the care of a medical professional.
kazinator 9y ago
If it were so, reading glasses couldn't be sold off self-serve racks.

ythn 9y ago

Who cares? The whole eye prescription thing seems like a shakedown anyway. Keep paying for a new Rx every 2 years if you want new glasses/contacts even if you can still see crystal clear with your current prescription. I got a glasses prescription 5 years ago and haven't paid for another one because I can still see 20/20. I order my glasses from Zenni where you can just punch the prescription in and get the glasses in the mail. This is a non-story.

kristofferR 9y ago

The US is such an absurd country. You can buy guns and a lot of serious drugs that are labelled as supplements freely, yet you need a prescription for lenses... Do you also need a prescription for glasses?

PhasmaFelis 9y ago
I mean, getting contacts/glasses without a prescription isn't going to do you much good. It's a little odd that it's mandatory, but I can't imagine any reason you'd want to do otherwise.
- scotty79 9y ago
  If your last glasses broke somehow you can get new ones just buy measuring old lenses and making new ones same.
- ythn 9y ago
  If you know your prescription you can order new glasses online without paying the optometry tax
- toomanybeersies 9y ago
  I last got a prescription about 4 or 5 years ago, I haven't needed a new one since, my eyes haven't changed that much. In that time, I've also bought 4 or 5 pairs of glasses, I got Specsavers to print off my prescription, and just buy them online. It was interesting trying to get my prescription from Specsavers. By law, they are required to provide it if I ask for it, but they really didn't want to make it easy. They actually make a loss on eye tests ($30 for 20 minutes of an optometrist), because all their profit is in the glasses, so if I take my prescription elsewhere, I'm costing them money.
koolba 9y ago
Yes you need it for both contacts and glasses. The prescription must be current as well (past year). It’s truly a racket. If you break your glasses on day 366, you can’t get a new pair without paying the eye exam tax.

joecool1029 9y ago

I've been buying contact lenses online for around a decade now and never once had to prove I had a prescription. It's saved my ass a few times while traveling.

J5892 9y ago

No real prescription needed? Looks like I just found my new contacts provider.

PhasmaFelis 9y ago
Why?
- ythn 9y ago
  Because OP can order more cases of his current contacts without paying an optometrist for a "new" prescription

gumby 9y ago

I don't see the problem here (despite that fact I am not happy with companies that want to "disrupt" things by ignoring safety rules). Sounds like they followed the rules (as the article says, you can leave a voice mail and assume all's well if you hear nothing). And indeed the optometrist's association is a racket so no wonder they are squealing. By the way the "no news is good news" rule isn't that unusual: if you file an IND (request to experiment with a new drug or existing drug in a new way) the FDA has 30 days to tell you "no" or "wait, we need more info" -- no response is considered an OK (though they are free to push the stop button later). Although I have not had that happen (got positive OK from the agency) I have plenty of colleagues who have gone all the way (phase II, NDA even) without ever getting an IND response from the FDA. Let's save the outrage articles for deserving cases -- it's not like there's a shortage.

geocar 9y ago
I'm weirdly outraged at the author: It's a confused kind of outrage because on one hand, if she actually believes she's doing a public service by pointing out how lax the law is and how loose this company is being with public health, then maybe I want her to know civilised countries let you order contacts online without a prescription! It's a non-issue; nobody is going to lie about contact lenses, it's extremely low risk, and honestly, maybe the company should be praised (she just doesn't know it). On the other hand, if she's just into clickbait and doesn't care about public safety; that she's actually willing to hatchet-job a company, potentially ruin those employees lives, and cost anyone who needs contact lenses more money (which is wow! expensive in the US! A box of 30 lenses is like £8 here!), then seriously, what a jerk!
- jdmichal 9y ago
  > civilised countries let you order contacts online without a prescription! > which is wow! expensive in the US! A box of 30 lenses is like £8 here! These two points are probably related.

scarface74 9y ago

I can't find a problem with this. If someone wants to fake a prescription, who are they harming besides themselves? But then again, I also think it's crazy that if I stopped by the drug store to buy some pseudoephedrine on my way to gun show, it would be illegal to sell the pseudoephedrine but legal to sell the gun.....

toomanybeersies 9y ago

The headline makes it sound like Hubble is sending people random lenses, that aren't the ones that they want from their prescription. The actual case is that they just skirt around the regulations that require a prescription. Where I live, we don't need a prescription for lenses, and we manage to survive.

kazinator 9y ago

I don't understand why Alison Griswold wrote an article to complain that an online business promptly and correctly filled her order. It's just a bunch of little lenses, not a shipment of plutonium. You can buy reading glasses in various diopters off a self-serve rack in pharmacies and other kinds of retail outlets.