10 ms·
biggest scam is that glasses/contact prescriptions only last a year in the US
by dawhizkid 8y ago
biggest scam is that glasses/contact prescriptions only last a year in the US
- ddingus 8y agoThat's maybe Fair given the potential rate of change.
- kazinator 8y agoYou can go decades without a change, or a significant change (more than half a diopter).
- ddingus 8y agoYeah, and others may go months, or years too.
- bluGill 8y agoSignificant change isn't just the RX, it is other things that can go wrong in the eye as well. IF caught early it can be corrected, otherwise you may not notice until you are half blind.
- jrockway 8y agoThat's true of everything, though. Your grocery store doesn't say, "sorry, you haven't been to the dentist in 6 months, we can't sell you food", even though there are many dental issues that can be life-threatening if not treated and eating food makes it worse. It's not their business to care.
- xxpor 8y agoThat varies by state. My NJ prescription lasts for 6 years IIRC.
- joecool1029 8y agoDepends on your doctor. In NJ mine always dates a year, so I got fed up and found a supplier to buy from that doesn't give a shit what my prescription says.
- dwighttk 8y agomy glasses prescription doesn't have an expiration date on it. Zenni and Coastal don't care if I order new glasses using my old prescription. I haven't tried with contacts... I think my last prescription had an expiration date.
- onwchristian 8y agoNote on contacts: because you're physically inserting a medical device into your eye, part of your annual exam is making sure that you are not causing any (potentially permanent) damage do your eye. While hopefully you are not abusing your contacts, even in normal use, sometimes the eyes can be harmed, which can cause major problems down the road for you. In my opinion, the expiration is probably a good thing if you're proponent of trying to protect people's eye health.
- dwighttk 8y agoYeah, I'm fine with it for contacts. It's just protectionism on glasses unless the prescribee has some degenerative condition.
- CompelTechnic 8y agoWhich brings up another benefit of using an online eyewear vendor: they let you type your own prescription in. If you are personally fine with using a two-year-old prescription, do it. When I ordered glasses a year ago, I also played around with the idea of eliminating astigmatism from my prescription by adjusting the cylinder value to 0 (it was only .25 in one eye and .50 in the other) and offsetting the sphere value by half of the difference. Because their buy-one get-one free sale, I got one pair with astigmatism and one without, and got to decide which I liked better.
- CarriersSuck 8y agoThat's awesome. Anything more than about a half diopter and you'll probably not get away with that in glasses. Contacts can go a little higher. I'm personally astigmatism sensitive, so I have to be spot on for degree and diopter.
- evarady 8y agoTo be legally above board, an online provide must attempt to confirm the Rx you enter is correct AND still valid. But few if any do because its a race to the bottom on quality and price. At Topology Eyewear, we spare no expense to ensure you get the best custom frames (like a custom suit) AND the best optics money can buy. We take 100% compensated Rx very seriously!
- rlonstein 8y agoWe're already aware you're enthusiastic about your business. Kindly leave the self-endorsement out of every comment.
- cgy1 8y agoIt depends on the vendor. Warby Parker, for example, requires you to scan/upload the prescription given by your doctor, which obviously has a date on it. I guess it's always possible to just edit out or change the date on it though.
- chucksmash 8y agoIt varies by retailer and also contacts vs glasses. If I remember correctly, thr Warby Parker storefront near me accepted a glasses prescriptions given out less than either five or ten years prior.
- Aunche 8y agoNeeding a prescription for glasses is a bit absurd to begin with. The worst case of wearing the wrong prescription is that you'll get a headache. I suppose it could be a bit dangerous if some drivers were slightly disoriented, but I can't imagine glasses being more dangerous than something like Tylenol.
- CarriersSuck 8y agoYou don't technically need an Rx. You can go to Zenni and just start plugging in numbers if you want. I'm not sure what that gains you, though.
- kd0amg 8y agoIt gains you the ability to replace a broken pair of glasses for just the cost of the glasses, rather than also having to pay for another eye exam.
- moate 8y agoTylenol (acetaminophen) is probably a pretty good example. They both seem pretty safe in reasonable situations (a slight difference in prescription value, a couple hundred extra MG dose) but can be hugely problematic at greater levels (lethal/permanent liver damage or completely unable to see anything with a terrible prescription)
- paxys 8y agoPlus wearing glasses with a slightly different power than your own is infinitely safer than not wearing them at all.
- jolmg 8y ago> The worst case of wearing the wrong prescription is that you'll get a headache. Doesn't using the wrong prescription worsen eyesight faster? At least, it's been my general experience that when a child is curious about people's glasses and is given the glasses so they can experience the effect, they only let them try it for a couple seconds and are explained that using them for too long can cause damage to their eyesight (because it's the wrong prescription for them who have perfect eyesight). Is that a myth?
- loeg 8y agoMy insurance fully covers annual exams, so that doesn't bother me too much. If the period between covered exams was longer than the prescription period, yeah, I'd be peeved.
- tzs 8y agoI wonder if that depends on state and/or who prescribes it? I got a new prescription in 2017-07-07, and just took a look at it. It says it expires 2019-07-07. I'm in Washington, and got it at Walmart.
- ghaff 8y agoI thought it was a state thing. But it's apparently an FTC rule that started with contacts and was expanded to glasses as some point. Not that I would advocate anyone taking shortcuts on eye exams, but assuming online US providers insist on appropriate documentation and doctors' names, there's always ordering from Canada.
- hopler 8y ago2 years in many if not all places. And I assume online places don't worry about that.
- antisthenes 8y agoIn many states it doesn't - you can ask for an extension to 2 years and in some states you can ask for a longer timeframe than that.
- zimzam 8y agoThe length actually varies by state and it ranges from 1 to 10 years.
- Double_a_92 8y agoYou actually need a prescription to buy glasses in the US? 0o