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Comment by KingMachiavelli | Hacker News Reader

In the US at least, you can order glasses online as long as you know the prescription. It's contacts that require a 'valid' prescription which only lasts a year and they will only let you buy a 'years' worth of contacts at a time.

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The rules around this vary state by state. In states like CA, it's unfortunately illegal to sell glasses/contacts to someone with an expired prescription.

More info on buying glasses/contacts: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/buying-prescription-gl...

That's wild! I'm lucky enough to never having needed glasses, but the country of limited regulation being so captured by the eyewear industry of all things is crazy.

My wife orders hers by dropshipping from possibly China and just enters her measurements from her latest prescription. Is that illegal? Contraband glasses.

I know right!!! Let’s just say “legit” and “contraband” glasses all come from the same handful of factories in Chinese cities such as Danyang and Shenzhen.

From a clinical standpoint, as long as a person has had the same prescription for years and is happy with their vision, things really ought to be that easy.

I'm in WA, and I have to upload a photo of my prescription to buy glasses from a popular online eyeglass vendor whose name rhymes with Warby Parker. My impression is that it's a state-by-state thing. In my opinion it's pretty silly require this for eyeglasses (contacts are a different matter).

Same here in TX. Got a nice bold expiration date on my prescription too, but can't remember if it's one year after I uploaded the picture or one year after the scrip was issued.

I think that there are many scenarios in which there shouldn't be a 1 year expiration date for glasses or contacts. For example, if someone has a very straightforward glasses/contact lens prescription (<2D, no astigmatism) that has not changed in years and if that person has also never had an abnormal eye exam, then there is an argument to be made about having a more open-ended expiration date.

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