The FTC’s Eyeglass Rule makes it easier to comparison shop — which can help you save money. After you get an eye exam that determines your best vision with eyeglasses (a refraction), your eye care prescriber has to give you a copy of your prescription — whether you ask for it or not. You can use your prescription to buy eyeglasses wherever they are sold — from another prescriber, a store, or online. Cost, quality, and supply can vary a lot from seller to seller, so it pays to shop around for the best deal.
Your prescriber also can’t make you pay an extra fee, buy eyeglasses, or sign a waiver or release in exchange for your prescription. That’s the law. Even so, not all prescribers do the right thing. That’s why the FTC sent warning letters to 28 prescribers telling them about possible violations of the Eyeglass Rule. Complaints involving five of the prescribers also allege violations of the Contact Lens Rule, which has similar requirements for giving patients contact lens prescriptions. The letters tell prescribers to review the rules, comply with the requirements, and that failure to do so could result in legal action and financial penalties.
If you suspect an eye doctor is violating the Eyeglass Rule or the Contact Lens Rule, let us know about it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
For more information, see Understanding Your Prescription Rights for Glasses and Contact Lenses. It includes a list of what you should see in your prescription.
It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.
The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.
We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.
In reply to The most important by Allie
The blog says that the FTC sent warning letters to 28 prescribers telling them about possible violations of the Eyeglass Rule. Click on the blue highlighted letters to read the press release for more information.
In reply to The blog says that the FTC by FTC Staff