Contact Lenses Without a Doctor Prescription – Easier Said Than Done

The law as an entity may often seem illogical, unjust or just plain unfair and sometimes a law may seem particularly pedantic and redundant. An especially clear example of this is the law concerning the usage and supply of contact lenses, which has been significantly tightened up in recent years.

Despite being two different countries with two different set of legal systems, the UK and the USA have both agreed on one crucial point: contact lenses are medical items and therefore only available on prescription.

In other words, acquiring contact lenses without a doctor prescription is an extremely difficult task to achieve, because there is a number of government bodies which have been very vigilant and meticulous in the enforcement and regulation of this law.

No doubt you may be thinking to yourself “why is acquiring lenses without a doctor prescription so difficult, and why has the government made these rules?” The answer is simple.

Whereas before novelty contact lenses were readily available even from places such as convenience stores and gas stations there was an ever increasing number of people who suffered severe, adverse reactions to the lenses resulting in serious eye infection and irritation.

Even although the government tried to resolve this problematic issue by strategically placing health warnings on the contact lenses, this had little real effect in the management or reduction of the number of reports and so the government felt it necessary in the interests of public safety to simply regulate them.

The government has not passed this law as some sort of conspiracy to spoil your fun at your next fancy dress party, it is merely trying to ensure basic standards for public health and safety and surely that is something we should be grateful for?