Contact Lens Regulations

Contact lens laws for consumers changed in 2004 with the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act. This law allows patients to obtain and order their own contact lenses from any retail establishment, not just their eye doctor, once their contact lens fitting has been finalized. Specific guidelines are outlined in the regulation.

Regulations for Doctors

• Doctors cannot require that patients buy contact lenses strictly from their office. The doctor must give the patient a copy of the final contact lens prescription, even if the patient does not ask for it, and be willing to provide the prescription to any optical retail establishment that requests the information.

Regulation for Optical Retailers

• Contact lens sellers must verify a contact prescription with the prescribing doctor. Sellers must provide the patient's address, detailed contact lens information, number of lenses to be ordered and the name, phone and address of the retail business.

Contact Lens Expiration Date

• The contact lens act permits doctors to set expiration dates on contact lens prescriptions. The rule is usually for one year or longer from the date of the contact lens fitting; however, the doctor can set a date earlier than a year for specific eye health conditions. The reasons for a shorter expiration date must be well documented in the patient file.