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Comment by diego | Hacker News Reader

Without an official prescription, shipped to a US address?

Yes - I have done them already. The "prescription" isn't actually legally binding. Your eye doctor is legally obligated to give you the numeric prescription on request for no additional charge.

The only other trick is getting the pupillary distance measurement. You can estimate this but I copied mine off the package from the opto lab the last time I bought glasses from an optician.

The app is PD Meter from Glassifyme.

yes. you just need to know the correct numbers.

I've personally bought from eyebuydirect several times, and vision pros once.

Vision pros was $200 for a pair of glasses. I found EyeBuyDirect later and I think the glasses I ordered were closer to $40 a pair.

Proof of prescription is not required to buy glass in the United States, however it is for contacts. You can get those too without an official prescription shipped to a US address. It’s not legal but in most of the world contacts are sold OTC so they are not exactly hard to get ahold of.

It’s easy to get glasses without a prescription.

But how do you know what to order? I just finished the article and I still feel like I'm missing something about this point.

Somebody tested you in the past and you got a pair that works fine. You still have the numbers from last time and you want another pair.

How do you know if your current pair is "working fine", though? I've been wearing glasses for 20+ years and I'm not confident/aware/knowledgeable enough to know if my current prescription is, "working fine".

So there’s some need to take a vision test periodically. You actually don’t need a professional for this, you can print an eye chart off the internet.

Even so, the need to get your vision tested is often not related to the need to replace your glasses because they broke or you lost them.

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