Until today, of course.  Today I had a patient that wanted to talk to me about contact lenses.  We discussed her vision and her options, but she told me at this point she preferred to just keep getting her color lenses.  Of course, I had to figure out what she meant, since I knew she had never had a contact lens prescription before.  Apparently contact lenses are being sold in a rural area near the city where I practice in a quote "Chinese Meat Market."

Lovely.

The word is slowly getting around to buyers and sellers of these "over the counter" color and "effect" contact lenses that it is ILLEGAL to sell contact lenses to anyone without a prescription.  And a legal prescription has to specify exactly the name of the brand, the parameters of the lens, and the power of the lens.  In order for a contact lens prescription to legally be written, the lens must be evaluated by a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist on the wearer's eye.  Yes, that means even novelty contact lenses with zero power require a prescription.

Why?

I don't need to litter this post with a lot of disgusting pictures; you have seen them all if you have read the contact lens posts on my blog (like this post).  Contact lenses are medical devices that are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration due to the high amount of complications and risk for permanent blindness that result from improper use.  Any seller of contact lenses that is doing so without using current prescription information is in violation of several FDA laws, and can incur a fine of $11,000.  When I tell this to patients, they are often shocked to learn of the amount of legislation involved with purchasing contact lenses legally.  To better illustrate why contact lenses are so dangerous, let me paint a picture:

Every time you put a contact lens on your eye, the corneal tissue underneath begins a slow process of suffocating, all the while being exposed to new bacteria and microbial species that love cool dark places like contact lens cases, but love eating away at your eye tissue even more.  Wow, contact lenses sound like fun right?  

I would say that usually 10% of my contact lens wearing patients that I see every day come in with eyes very similar to this photograph in appearance.  The eye is starving for oxygen with new blood vessels growing all around the cornea.  These blood vessels bring scar tissue with them, and you can't see through scar tissue because it is no longer clear.  Don't let this happen to you.  If you notice that your eyes are routinely red and uncomfortable with contact lens wear, see a doctor as soon as possible and wear your glasses in the mean time!

In all honesty, when used as they are meant to be used, contact lenses will offer excellent vision without reducing the levels of oxygen to the eye to harmful minimums, and are getting safer with each passing year as companies improve their technologies for delivering oxygen and battling microbial parasites.  When you wear contact lenses for a long time, it is easy to forget that every time you put in lens in your eye, you are utilizing a medical technology that has only been available mainstream since the 1970s.  And let's not forget the first lenses were made out of a substance similar to bullet proof glass!  You wouldn't buy your blood pressure medication at a beauty salon or a flea market without a prescription, so don't treat your contact lenses with any less regard for your medical safety!