Contact Lenses online???

T

Texas97

500+ Posts
i posted about this about 2 years ago. my vision has not changed for the last 6+ years. until recently, i had not had my eyes checked for 5 years and i was still running on my contacts. about 2 years ago, i ran out and posted here looking for online place for getting contacts. i was in grad school and although i had medical insurance, i did not have vision.

someone mentioned a canadian placewww.visiondirect.com

i used them and it worked great. i graduated about a year ago and my current employer does offer vision. i got my eyes checked b/c i wanted to get some glasses. i got my prescription,... but get this, they would not give me a prescription for contacts; only glasses. what a joke. i still have a few contacts left so that is not an issue.

question though. i recommended VisionDirect to a friend of mine recently who was asking where i got mine. he said that they were asking for doctor's information. i am not sure if he ended up getting them filled.

my question is does VisionDirect require that now? if so, is there any other place to get contact lenses online without a current eye prescription? talk about a racket. it isn't like i am melting contacts and shooting it in my veins.

anyway, recommendations definitely appreciated.


Texas97
 
If you're in Texas, you need a current prescription to get contacts via the internet. Where did you get your eye exam? If you ask for a copy of your prescription, they are required to provide it to you.
 
i don't even remember where i got my eye exam a few years ago. i got my eyes examined here in austin a few months ago but they told me that they won't give me a prescription for contacts b/c i wasn't "fitted" for them or some BS like that.

i usedThe Link about 2 years ago with no proof of prescription and they sent me the lenses. i am guessing they might not be allowing that still.


Texas97
 
mizzou, i would like lasik eventually. at this time, contacts are not that much of an issue and i can use the money to continue paying off my debt from grad school.


Texas97
 
talk about irony. i looked in my bathroom last night and saw that i only have like 1 contact left for my left eye. uh-oh. i went toThe Link this morning and logged into the account i created in sept. 2003. i wen to "re-order". it is asking me for my doctors' information. i put the old eye doctor information. i doubt that person is even still there. i wonder if they will fill this? it shows it as processing.

so if it fails........... are there any places to order contacts online outside the US that do not require a new prescription?

Texas97
 
Just type in something bogus, chances are rare they will ever check. They just need the blanks filled in. I have done this, it works.
 
Texas state law requires that the eye doctor give you a paper contact prescription that you can take with you. My eye doctor does. You should vote with your feet and find a real eye doctor.
 
i have the prescription from my eye doctor but apparently it is only good for glasses, not contacts. i actually put the doctors name on the website form but transposed some phone numbers. we'll see how it goes......... it is processing the order right now.


Texas97
 
it worked. i put the right doctor's name but put down a different phone number. they shipped it last week. i even tracked it.


Texas97
 
It's a ******* scam that the Texas Legislature approved. Here's how it works for me, I go pay a $15 co-pay for an eye exam, and this covers my glasses prescription. If I want a contact prescription, I must pay an $80 fitting fee where I am given a pair of contacts to wear for a week, and then they must check my eyes again to "verify" the prescription. When I get the contacts prescription, I may then order contacts for 1 year from it's date. Then I must do the process all over.

I get around it a couple of ways, a 6 month prescription of "disposable" contacts is 12 pair as you are supposed to change every the pair every 2 weeks. I wear these until they start becoming uncomfortable to wear which usually takes 4-8 weeks. I start by ordering a 6 month supply, and then right before my prescription expires I order another year supply. That way I have contacts for about 3 years. I had an eye/contact exam in 2000, and then went for another in last 2003. Once prescription in one eye had changed 1/4 of one point, and the other eye stayed the same, so my vision did not change.

As a disclaimer though, I am not recommending anyone do this, I am willing to put my eyes at risk but not yours. I also would recommend more frequent eye checks if your vision seems to be changing or if you suffer from pink eye or something similar on a regular (more than once a year) basis.

Bottom line is that the Leg was lobbied to create this law in order to help "protect us from ourselves" which is always something that drives me up the wall.
 
son, i experienced the same problem you did. the only reason i went to the eye doctor a few months ago was b/c i now have eye coverage via my job. when i was in grad school and worked for a professor at UT, i had medical but not vision.

anyway, i needed some new glasses bad. my old ones had been broken and i never really cared b/c i only wore them before going to sleep. but i wanted to get some new glasses to give my eyes a break every once in a while.

anyway, when i went to get my eyes examined, they only did them for glasses. i asked if i could get a prescription for contacts as well and they told me that they could not. i would need ANOTHER exam for contacts fitting? whatever.

i ordered from vision direct back in sept. 2003 without a valid prescription. those contacts i had lasted me probably 3-4 years using the same thing you did. unfortunately these acuvue2s only lasted me just over a year. i have 2 left on one eye (i have one in a backup in my shaving bag, i just remembered). the eye doctors are definitely scamming us. the prescriptions should last more than 1 year; my eyes have not changed over the last 6 years and yet to get a new valid prescription i need to go every year? a joke.

fortunatelyThe Link worked. i ordered 6 more per eye and might order some more soon in case they don't continue to let me do this....


Texas97
 
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