New law makes it easier to buy contacts online

Consumers can save money by buying their contact lenses online, and a new federal law makes it easier to shop around for deals. But some doctors warn consumers to be careful.

The new law requires eye doctors and optometrists to give patients their contact lens prescriptions immediately after a contact lens fitting.

In the past, some patients have had trouble getting their prescriptions, which are necessary for ordering online. Prescriptions spell out the corrective power and the shape of the lenses.

“I have experienced a problem getting my prescription from the eye doctor,” said a Coeur d’Alene man who didn’t want to be named because his eye doctor is a family friend.

“In the past, I had let the online contact lens reseller do the dirty work of getting the prescription from the office. But this time, I wanted to fax in the request to take advantage of a coupon. So I was told by the office staff I had to come in and pick it up. When I was there, the doctor confronted me and attempted to make me feel guilty for not buying from him. I was shocked that a doctor would use a friendship as a means of leveraging business.”

Doctors fear that some consumers may use old, expired prescriptions to order lenses that could damage their eyes. The new law doesn’t do much to protect against that, critics say.

Online sellers use faxes and automated telephone calls to request prescription verification from doctors. The new law allows online sellers to consider a prescription “passively verified” if the prescribing doctor does not respond to one of these faxes or phone calls in eight business hours.

Eight hours is unrealistic, said Pat Eddington, a lobbyist for the American Academy of Ophthalmologists in Washington, D.C. If an eye doctor is in surgery, Eddington said, he or she might not get around to verifying a prescription by the eight-hour deadline.

“Passive verification for prescriptions is medically reckless,” Eddington said. “Our doctors don’t want their patients going blind. They don’t want corneal ulcers and other problems.”

Spokane optometrist Sara Edmons doesn’t think the law will hurt sales of lenses at Eye Consultants, the North Side clinic where she works. The clinic has never denied patients their prescriptions, she said.

Eye Consultants can’t match low prices at Costco or online retailers, she said. Eye Consultants charges about $22.50 for a box of two-week disposable lenses. Online prices are about 20 percent less.

“We try to compete based on service,” Edmons said.

Medical Lake resident Lahnie Henderson buys her contact lenses from Spokane Eye Clinic and has not been tempted to seek a better price elsewhere. She likes the convenience of ordering lenses where she gets her eye exams. She also distrusts online medical services.

“I don’t buy anything medical over the Internet,” she said. “I don’t care what it is.”

Eye doctors warn consumers to continue getting regular eye exams in order to avoid problems. Washington state law says eye prescriptions expire after two years. Idaho law says prescriptions expire after one year.

Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule on how the new federal law, passed last December, will be implemented. The law is called the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act.

The American Optometric Association has created a new contact lens prescription form “so that our practitioners can provide the patient with all of the needed information so that they may have their prescriptions filled elsewhere,” said Susan Thomas, spokeswoman with the St. Louis-based group. “We are certainly encouraging our members to be in compliance with the law.”