For contacts, maybe not. That is a medical device that is in contact with a highly sensitive organ for extended periods of time, and is often re-used by design. A yearly contact lens eye exam is annoying but seems reasonable to ensure nothing changed in the last year to suggest the wearer should stop wearing contacts, or use a different brand or type
What's more, in foreign countries eye exams are frequently done by technicians who are not doctors. It's not that complicated to press the "start" button on an autorefractor. So even if eye exams are required, they can be done far more quickly and easily than at present.
In many countries in Asia and Europe, prescriptions aren't _required_ for hardly anything. You can buy drugs and glasses at will, including antibiotics. (Typical exceptions only for most stimulants and some -- but not all -- opioids.) In the US, where you can't get anything without seeing a doctor, including a box of contact lenses, one feels infantilized.
There are several good reasons for it. 1. Antibiotic overuse is a serious issue. If people could just get them without prescription they would use them for flu etc. Because they wouldn't be able to tell that it's a viral infection. Over time this would lead to even more antibiotic resistant pathogens than we have now. Plus there is the whole "kills your gut biome" thing.
2. Our healthcare is heavily subsidized and practically universal. The antibiotics and many other medications are, indirectly, payed for by government, with prices negotiated and set trough complicated process involving semi-state insurance companies and government. Letting people buy drugs without prescription could lead to abuse, like exporting them to third countries. Causing shortages etc.
In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, it's mixed, but generally _much_ more relaxed than the US. In many cases, even if a prescription is "required," pharmacists won't stand on principle.
I realize that one can't generalize across the entire continent, but there are certainly regions where things are more like Thailand or China than they're like the USA. And it's really no big deal.
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/report/infographic-ca...
I haven't heard of anyone doing that (why would anyone do that, actually?) instead of just going to a human doctor to get a prescription for human drugs.
In Spain not only you can't buy antibiotics at will, but you can't even buy 1 g paracetamol pills (you can buy 500 mg pills, though - I guess the government wants to protect people who can't add 500+500!). Some pharmacists will turn a blind eye with silly restrictions like paracetamol, though - but not all, because they might be fined if they get caught.
I know it sounds a bit absurd at first thought, but restricting the amount that can be bought at a time actually works for preventing overdosing. People are just less likely to swallow 12 500 mg tablets in one time than 6 1g tablets.
You can still buy disposables over the counter, though.
It's the same in the US.
(Well I'm sure if you insisted they'd let you, but standard practice is to try again the next day. I know people who had to go several times before buying contacts)
It's not hard, but at the first time, the guidance is really useful
Also please drop the ad-hominem.
Contact lenses are a high risk medical device. Contamination or mis-use can cause serious permanent damage. Wanting to prevent permanent damage is a good thing.
Now as different countries had different policies for decades now, we can compare the health outcomes of these policies. My personal opinion is that the rules can be relaxed in the US, but I don’t have all the data and am not a policy expert.
Characterizing contact lenses as “high risk medical device” is completely ridiculous. Pencils can cause serious permanent damage. There is no evidence that expensive yearly exams are necessary. The fact is that technology almost completely replaced the need for these people and so they built themselves into the medical system.
There is a risk classification system for medical devices. Most regulatory bodies have put contact lenses in the moderate to high risk category. E.g. the FDA classifies contact lenses as Class 2 out of 3.
You don’t put pencils in your eye for hours every day. The fact that most people use contacts just fine does not mean that there are no risks. If you want to know about them, talk to an eye doctor, they all have horror stories about contact lenses.
> Characterizing contact lenses as “high risk medical device” is completely ridiculous. Pencils can cause serious permanent damage.
No, it's not. That's a terrible slippery-slope argument and you know it. Contact lenses are an FDA Class II medical device. They are *designed* by the manufacturer for contact with the eyeball. A pencil is not.
> There is no evidence that expensive yearly exams are necessary.
There is a mountain of evidence suggesting that contact lenses can cause permanent blindness when used incorrectly. Feel free to search for it.
Also, contacts are not a high risk medical device. Only a moderate risk.