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optoblog comic #29 FTC Rx

Since October 16, 2020 I have had to take an extra step at the end of the exam to explain to patients they they need to sign a statement saying that they received a copy of their contacts lens Rx. Firstly, some people get a bit apprehensive when asked to sign any kind of legalese- as they should. Second, the question “why?” pops up when they’ve been wearing contacts for years and never had to do this rigmarole before.

So, obviously, the Contact Lens Rule was created to punish all optometrists for the sins of a few. No doubt that online retailers were behind this. You would think the proper way to handle a complaint that your optometrist didn’t give you a finalized prescription would be to tell your state optometry board and let them correct the issue as their rules dictate. But that wasn’t good enough for the Feds, so now we live in a county where the FTC has requirements for optometrists- although the punishment for not complying isn’t spelled out clearly.

So if we’re going to take away power from the states regarding their administration of licensed professions, then let’s just be consistent and have a national optometry license and tell the states that they can take their boards and throw them in the septic tank where they also think all the optometrists belong.

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