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Comment by sneak | Hacker News Reader

Can we do contact lenses next please?

Might as well do ordinary glasses, too.

Zenni is effectively this, although you do need at least a one-time measure of your prescription and pupillary distance.

Though they don't, in my experience, ask for any indication that this comes from a prescription, that it's up to date, etc. You're free to use numbers from an ancient prescription, just guess at your refraction, whatever.

Some other online glasses sales places will make you show them a sufficiently-recent prescription.

Any store will sell me clothes that don't fit, food I'm allergic to, and chemicals that are dangerous if used incorrectly. It's not unreasonable to expect the buyer to take some basic responsibility.

I don't dislike that Zenni does this.

They have their limits to this laissez fair policy though, for whatever reason...I tried buying multiple pairs of glasses at slightly different strengths from Zenni (stronger rx for it for outdoor distance views and weaker for inside and they freaked out and they called and asked if it was a mistake. When I explained what I was doing, they said nope and cancelled the order on me.

Are they not already? I just put in my Rx numbers on the website and get my contacts shipped to me.

I'm I secretly checking a box that says I pinky swear I have a valid prescription?

When I do this they make me upload a scan/picture of the prescription. Sure, I guess you could fake it.

Glasses and contact lenses have extreme potential for abuse, and should only be used with a recent (1 year) prescription from a licensed optometrist.

And toothbrushes too, did you know in some countries it is legal to brush your teeth and buy a toothbrush even if you didn’t see a dentist in the last year?

I became addicted to mine after only a few days of use! Now I use them every day without fail and I think I would have a very hard time stopping.

My readers from 3 years ago are not dangerous I promise you, absolutely no chance of “abuse” from my Costco glasses. If you could please clarify?

Medical regulations exist for the good of the public, and I wouldn’t risk treating a condition that a medical professional’s diagnosis is required for. The FDA would only block self-treatment if it were dangerous.

I'd love to see some facts backing this up. It might be true that wearing slightly off prescriptions could train eyes slightly worse over time, but for most people going without them is a far worse option.

Also, the skillset required to prescribe glasses and contacts is something that can be (and is in some countries) effectively on the job training, not necessarily something that requires a specialist doctor with years of education. In most of Europe your average glasses shop can put you in a machine for a few minutes, and spit out an accurate prescription.

It's sarcasm, I'm fairly sure.

Even if this is sarcasm, you may want to be careful as people may actually believe this ludicrous take.

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