I feel the same way about my Toprol.

-MT

This is far from being a perk...yhis is protection for the industry and
the consumer.  Its the moron who continuously re-orders his contacts
without an eye health examination that gets the corneal ulcers and
erosions.  The contact lens industry doesn't need a lot of sick eyes
running around out there any more than the doctor does.

I'm just guessing, but do you buy a six pack of underwear and wear each
pair until they're gross?   Thats what consumers often do with
contacts.  Do you buy disposable razors and keep using the same one
until you have bled too many times?  That's what overwear looks like in
contacts.

Why didn't your optometrist just renew your contact prescription when he
gave you the spectacle prescription?

The online contact lens suppliers fought like hell to get a mandatory
prescription release law.  They fought hard enough that they won.  BUT,
the FTC agreed that there should be limits on how long the patient can
refill an Rx.  The resulting legislation has turned out to be a
blessing and a curse to online sales.  There has been a drop off in
sales from those people who never had a valid Rx or had an expired Rx.
The new law established rules for how the retailer has to verify that
the Rx is not out-of-date.

Here's the FTC's guidelines about the Fairness to Contact Lens
Consumers Act:

For Release: June 29, 2004

FTC Issues Final Rule Implementing Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers
Act

The Federal Trade Commission has issued its final rule implementing the
Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act. The Act, which was enacted on
December 6, 2003, requires that contact lens prescribers provide
patients with a copy of their contact lens prescriptions after a
contact lens fitting and verify those prescriptions to any third party
designated by a patient, such as an online seller. The Act mandates
that a third-party seller may sell contact lenses to consumers if the
seller obtains a copy of the prescription, or if the prescriber
verifies the prescription information, either by confirming it or by
correcting inaccuracies, or if the prescriber does not respond within
eight business hours to the seller's verification request -
so-called "passive verification."

The Commission published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal
Register on February 4, 2004, and accepted comments through April 5,
2004. The Commission received more than 8,000 comments from
prescribers, trade associations, sellers, state attorneys general, and
consumers.

The final Rule closely tracks the Act, and is consistent with the
Act's overall goal of enabling consumers to comparison shop and
purchase contact lenses from the seller of their choice. Specifically,
the final Rule:

Requires prescribers (such as optometrists and ophthalmologists) to
provide patients with a copy of their contact lens prescription
immediately upon completion of a contact lens fitting;
Requires prescribers to provide or verify contact lens prescriptions to
any third party designated by a patient;
Prohibits prescribers from placing certain conditions on the release or
verification of a contact lens prescription;
Requires contact lens sellers either to obtain a copy of a patient's
prescription or verify the prescription before selling contact lenses,
and deems a prescription "verified" if, among other things, a
prescriber fails to respond to a seller's verification request within
eight business hours; and
Establishes minimum expiration dates for contact lens prescriptions.
The final Rule also allows third-party sellers flexibility in
communicating with prescribers and requires sellers to keep records of
all direct communications with prescribers.

"This Rule focuses on competition and convenience for consumers,"
said Howard Beales, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer
Protection. "It really gives consumers, prescribers, and sellers a
'clear view' about their rights and responsibilities under the
law."

The Commission vote to approve the final Rule and the publication of
the Federal Register Notice was 5-0.

Copies of the Federal Register Notice are available from the FTC's
Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer
Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent,
deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to
provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To
file a complaint in English or Spanish (bilingual counselors are
available to take complaints), or to get free information on any of 150
consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or
use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet,
telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into
Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of
civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jen Schwartzman,
Office of Public Affairs