Online contacts

Why can't I buy contacts without an eye doc being in the loop? I find
this annoying. I have a fresh eyeglass prescription, and some contacts
I like in my old prescription. Now I need to pay someone to say it's
okay to get the contacts in the right Rx. Looks to me like the eye
docs must have lobbied congress to for this little perk...

--

 

You also like the valium you had once, you can buy that online now
without a script. Who needs a stupid doctor anyway?

Dumb bastards, just ripping the public off.\

\dr grant

 

In what way is it even close to being the same thing?

--

 

if your pescription expired, youll need to get another eye exam and a
new pescription. contacts are medical device class II so their sale is
regulated to a pescription. Glasses are in class I so its easy to get
them without a pescription as they arent controlled really.

 

This is far from being a perk...yhis is protection for the industry and
the consumer. Its the moron who continuously re-orders his contacts
without an eye health examination that gets the corneal ulcers and
erosions. The contact lens industry doesn't need a lot of sick eyes
running around out there any more than the doctor does.

 

I'm just guessing, but do you buy a six pack of underwear and wear each
pair until they're gross? Thats what consumers often do with
contacts. Do you buy disposable razors and keep using the same one
until you have bled too many times? That's what overwear looks like in
contacts.

 

What sort of dumbass are you?

How is a prescription for contacts any different from a prescription
for Valium or Lithium? Would your doctor send you a script for drugs
without seeing you first?

Contact lenses are classified as a therapeutic agent by your FDA. They
are a prescription item, and the optometrist is liable for them. Online
providers are compelled to have a current script to dispense lenses.

Now where is that different from your valium and Lithium?

dr grant

 

Those two optometrists said it well. If you are too lazy to get an
updated contact pescription, stick to your glasses! The worst that can
happen is you wont see as well as you should due to outdated glasses,
but it wont damage your eyes like contacts

 

Someone who at least knows how to quote so we know who is being referred
to.

All the time. I put in an order yesterday on the web site. I expect
that my doctor will approve it and forward the prescription to the
pharmacy, which will then mail me my drugs. I believe that with some
exception, Valium is specifically excluded from this process.

I still don't think prescriptions make a lot of sense, but then, many
things don't. I can buy all the reading glasses I want without a
prescription, but not minus lenses.

I worked with a woman for a long time who's father owned a pharmacy, and
she worked there when young. Perhaps Oz is more sensible, but despite
the fact that the normal dose of aspirin for an adult is 650mg, those
pills require a prescription. You can buy a bottle of a zillion 325mg
aspirin, and take two, which the label says is the normal dose, without
a prescription. Same thing with Motrin. I had some shoulder pain a
few years back. The doctor wrote a prescription for 600mg Motrin. I
asked him what the difference was between that and the OTC stuff. He
said that the prescription was covered under my drug plan and would cost
US$1.00 for a big bottle, and the OTC 200mg tablets would cost a lot of
money for a little bottle. The drug itself was the same. He asked if
I'd rather buy OTC, and I replied that, no, I was just curious. [note -
my information is quite old]

 

Do you think it's good advertising for your practice being such an ass
on a public forum?

I don't think contact lenses are even in the same ballpark as addicitve
and/or potentially fatal chemicals. What do you think my OD will do if
I go in there and pay him $100 do provide a contact lens Rx? He'll
hand me some off the shelf and tell me to come back and tell me how
they worked out. If I say they worked, he'll sell me a supply at a
premium price. If they don't work out, he'll try a different brand
until I say it's okay.

As far as I can tell, the entire prescription process boils down to the
subjective impressions of the patient.

Do you think you are protecting me from myself somehow by prohibiting
me from buying my own contacts? If so, how? Besides, what do you care
if I walk around with the wrong contacts anyway?

--

 

I guess it just depends how "libertarian" of a person you are. I think
people ought to be left to their business if they aren't hurting anyone
else. I don't see how I can harm anyone but myself with contact lenses.

I do also resent having to go to the doctor and pay $150 for an
antibiotic prescription when I get a sinus infection. In that case,
however, there _is_ a concern of people overusing them and creating
resistant strains of bacteria. Having said that, I think it's lining
doctors pockets, because it doesn't take 8 years of education to
properly dispense antibiotics and such.

Maybe we should require a podiatrist Rx to buy shoes. After all, we
wouldn't want people to buy the wrong sized shoe and damage their feet,
or worse yet, continue wearing old shoes once they have become too
small or infected within fungus.

To your comment, how does requiring an doctor permission slip keep
people from overwearing contacts? Seems to me it would encourage it
since all cheap and convenient avenues are being closed.
--

 

How will I damage my eyes exactly?

--

 

In reality, though, the dispensing optician (or company, or
manufacturer, or eye doctor) incurs liability if they participate in
your insouciant method. Such is reality.

Pretty heady stuff. Maybe something to take up with a state, or
national, legistlature, but that system doesn't get changed here, where
the participating doctors will still tell you that they can't dispense
without a prescription and that they (very likely) won't prescribe
without a visit.

Charles, I think you've made your point here, but I don't think you're
getting anywhere with it in the context of your original question. In
the old days, "Write your congressman" would have been an appropriate
answer.

Continued good luck with your vision therapy, and best of luck with
your new contacts ... however you get them.

Neil

 

I think requiring periodic exams is a good idea. Contacts are worn over
one of our very important organs, the eyes. Having check up exams is
smart. I tend to be a procrastinator and also forgetfull of how long it
has been since my eyes are examined. Before you know it a few years
have gone by. With the legal requirement I'll get the exams. I think
that is good when we are talking about contacts and maintaining healthy
eyes. I'd hate to lose my eyesight.

 

Perhaps. I'm not really sure how much liability lens.com would be
taking on. After all, I can buy all kinds of dangerous things on-line
and, for the most part, sellers aren't concerned. If they are, they
could refuse to sell without a prescription or purchase more liability
insurance.

Understood. I was mostly just venting frustration; I know you can't
change anything. I just wonder how these things become law in the
first place. Kind of like requiring a licenses for barbers.

Fair enough.

Thanks.

--

 

So what you are really saying is that dumb shits like you should be
protected from themselves.

I agree, you are a dumb shit and need protection.

This is why there are laws on the expiry of CL scripts as you are
compelled to get a check and make sure you have the correct fitting
lens.

You are the sort of person who sues the optom after you get an
infection from having worn a lens for 3 years and not removing it. That
bastard OD should pay for your suffering, shouldn't he?

There are totally stupid dumb shits like Nancy, aqnd then there is
Charles.

You are one dumb fucker and no OD should prescribe for you as you are
too stupid to deserve their care.

dr grant

 

Why didn't your optometrist just renew your contact prescription when he
gave you the spectacle prescription?

--
Cheers,
Bev
=======================================================================
"Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the
bodies of the people who pissed me off."

 

No problem. I see my ophthalmologist once a year because of non-glaucoma
elevated IOP. She doesn't fit contacts.

I have had 3 different licensed contact fitters. My astigmatism is such
that even if the trial lenses are perfect, the lenses ordered in the same
prescription have a better than 50-50 chance of not fitting. I have not yet
found one fitter (1 optometrist, 2 opticians) who will stand behind me and
talk to the manufacturers about WHY the lenses don't fit.

From my standpoint, the docs aren't doing the job they're paid for. This
has nothing at all to do with my eye health, which is dealt with by someone
else. If I could finally get a prescription with reproducible fit, I'd be
pretty pissed if I had to pay a guy $85 just to change the date on the
paper. I can do that myself, come to think of it.

So would I, but let's hear about what ought to be done about giving me a
prescription that's guaranteed to be half bad and then throwing their hands
up in the air and blaming it on... well, they never actually blamed it on
anybody, they just say "that's all I can do for you".

</rant>

--
Cheers,
Bev
=======================================================================
"Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the
bodies of the people who pissed me off."

 

The last guy who fit me for contacts said that, contrary to everything
written, I could wear my current lenses for a year. This is his solution to
my problem, which is two known good pair, two known bad pair, and one
unopened pair of lenses, and the assumption that any lenses re-ordered will
exhibit the same good/bad ratio. I've paid $350 for the lenses and service.

So yeah, I guess I DO have to wear the underwear until it's grungy because
it's the last underwear I'm going to be able to get.

Moreover, they hand out antibiotics for colds just to get the whining
patient off their back, which is exactly wrong.

I'll buy that, but I don't have that much sympathy -- at least you've found
contacts that fit.

BTW, Costco offers the best price on my prescription, much better than the
on-line places. The doc matched that price, providing I show him my Costco
card. Have you tried asking if he'll sell you the contacts for the best
price you can find outside his office?

--
Cheers,
Bev
=======================================================================
"Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the
bodies of the people who pissed me off."

 

Same here somewhat but in my case I see a Retina specialist once a year
because of a detached retina a number of years ago. He does not fit
contacts. I don't think he would be up on most contact lens issues.

If there were a problem with the contact fit he would only tell me to
see the optometrist. In any case my response to the "other" Charles was
based on the presumption that he was not seeing any other eye doctor to
check his eye health.

The fitters are definitly a mixed lot. I had to try different ones
before finding a good one.

There is more to it than the refraction.

My experience is that it has taken some trial and error to get the
right prescription. But that is because I desire multi-focal contacts.
And I ended up with a prescription that is not perfect. I don't think
it is an issue with the Optometrist. I think the issue is my eyes.
There is not going to be a perfect prescription for my eyes with the
current products and state of the manufactorers art for multifocal
contacts. At least I don't have to use readers. The non-multifocal
contacts were a perfect fit for distance vision but I had to use
readers. I prefer the less than perfect multifocals and not having to
use the readers. My choice.