Why can someone order contact lenses without a current prescription?

The keyword in the FAQ above is "current".  While it is possible to get plano or non-vision correcting circle lenses without even a previous prescription from outside of the US if you are wanting to buy contact lenses that correct your vision you NEED to have been previously (at some point) fitted for contact lenses by a certified eye care provider and have been issued a valid prescription.  In the US, the somewhat controversial time period a contact lens prescription remains current can be as long as 2 years but by practice is typically only 1 year or 12 measly months.  For many people that regularly wear contacts their vision does not worsen each and every year making the annual visit to the eye doctors sometimes a hassle.

If you have a valid prescription that has expired and is as such no longer current you can't order contact lenses online from US based retailers... so what's your option?  It's simple, you order the very same exact contact lenses from the UK.   Buying your contacts from the UK is mostly the same as from the US except that it will take longer (as much as 7 days) to ship your lenses and you will also have to convert pounds to dollars to understand how much you are paying.  That's about the only difference... use this link if you want to buy contact lenses without a current prescription.

How to order contact lenses without a current doctor's prescription.

It's just as simple to order contact lenses online without a current or still valid doctor's Rx as it is to order contacts with a current prescription.  It's just a matter of knowing where to go.  However, there are a couple guidelines that we suggest in case you are short on common sense.

• If you haven't worn contact lenses ever before don't order vision correcting contact lenses without first going to an eye doctor for a fitting and eye exam.
• Even if you wear eye glasses and you know your prescription you should still go and get fitted for contact lenses so the eye doctor can verify you are a good candidate to wear lenses and he can verify your base curve.
• Use common sense... if your prescription for contact lenses expired 5 years ago and you think your vision may have deteriorated then cough up the $100 and get your prescription updated by an certified eye care professional.

If you are like most of our visitors and you are a regular wearer of contact lenses but your prescription has expired somewhat recently and you are confident that your vision is still excellent (perhaps you wear eye glasses with the same power and script) but don't want to waste the time and the extra money to get the piece of paper updated and have someone grant you permission to buy and wear the same lenses you've been wearing for multiple years then you do certainly have an option.  You can order contact lenses without a current prescription from the UK.  It's just about as straight forward as ordering contacts online from the US but here's the step by step details.

1. Use this link to order contact lenses from the UK without a current Rx.
2. On the LensPlanet site choose your base curve, lens diameter and eye power for both eyes... if you don't know this information stop at this point and make an appointment with your eye doctor - and then add an email address to create an account and hit the checkout button.
3. Select United States from the country drop down and put your State in the County field and your City in the Town field.  Zip code goes in Post code and the rest is obvious.

That's all there is to it.  Note: LensPlanet ships via Royal Mail, expect a few days for the order to process and then clear customs and make it across the Atlantic.  If you give yourself 2 full weeks from when you really need them you should be fine.

Can you buy prescription color contacts with no doctor in Canada?

Maybe if you live in Canada but certainly not if you live in the US.  Canada is no longer an option for shipping any type of, color or normal, contact lenses if they are vision correcting and your prescription has expired.  The UK however is an inexpensive option provided you at least know your prescription information.  If you don't have a copy of your previously valid prescription or the packaging from your last order of lenses then don't guess at your base curve or diameter and instead fork up the money to visit your eye care provider.  If you do have it then ordering new contact lenses from the UK with an expired prescription is as easy as ordering from 1 800 contacts or any other US based online contact lens retailer.

Above is how the question came in via Google but a better way to phrase the question might be....

Can I order from Lensway to US without prescription?

The short answer, we think, is... not anymore.   Lensway has 2 websites; one that serves the US... Lensway.com and one that serves the UK and Ireland... Lensway.co.uk - the latter used to (2010 timeframe) provide the option to select a US address as a shipping address.  The UK site no longer has any US options and clearly states that it serves only the UK and Ireland and was most likely changed so as to not compete with the main US Lensway site.

There is however a UK option for ordering contact lenses without prescription.

Free color contact lenses with prescription.

From time to time major manufacturer's of colored contact lenses will offer a free trial pair of color contacts if you fill out their required paperwork and go to an eye doctor to get a proper fitting.  We haven't actually done it so can't comment on all the details but Johnson & Johnson outlines the instructions on how to get your free color contact lenses at the link below.  If you try to get free color Acuvue contacts via the link below please be web-friendly and come back to this article and leave a comment speaking to your success or failure at getting free lenses.

http://www.acuvue.com/products-acuvue-2-colours.htm

Can you order contact lenses without a doctor's prescription?

Absolutely not if you want vision correcting contact lenses.  You can't guess at your vision and contact lenses have slightly different base curves and diameters based on your eye shape and size and only your eye doctor can prescribe the correct fitting and right and left eye powers for your needs.  You may be able to buy some cool cosmetic lenses without a doctor's prescription but our focus is not non prescription lenses.   So if you've never had an eye exam before and want to wear contacts then you should make an appointment to see your eye care provider.

IF you do have a doctor's prescription but it's just not current or valid that's a different question entirely.   See this FAQ for information pertaining to a 'current prescription for contact lenses'.

Does Global Lens offer coupon codes?

Not as far as we know.  We searched and only found coupon code websites that create search results and empty bogus pages based on the contents a user types into search.  If we learn of any via comments we will make sure to post them here.  Global Lens, www.globabllens.com, is a contact lenses retailer based in Canada and we do believe they will ship contact lenses to the United States without a current prescription.  Before you place an order however consider comparing there prices on one of the most common / popular brand and type of contact lenses on the market...

The screen grabs below were taken from lensplanet.com and globalens.com on March 31st, 2011 and are of course subject to change.  GlobalLens' price in US dollars for the popular 1-Day Acuvue 30 Pack is $30.53.  LensPlanet's price in US dollars for the same exact box of contact lenses is approximately $21.40.  Approximately because it depends on the current conversion rate of the Pound (GBP).  Lensplanet's price in Pounds as shown below is 13.30.

So a quick price comparison on 3 boxes of lenses for each eye for these daily acuvue contacts yields...

GlobalLens - 6 boxes @ 30.53 each = $183.18

LensPlanet - 6 boxes @ 21.40 each = $128.40

1800Contacts - 6 boxes @ 29.95 each = $179.70

Wow that's a HUGE savings of $54.78 over Global Lens and that's for only a 3 month supply if you wear your lenses each day.  Over a full year you'd save more than $200 or get more than 4.5 months for FREE.  Shipping from LensPlanet is only 5 pounds or $8 US (flat rate).

Order contact lenses from LensPlanet with no prescription

We frequently get searches for opticalinstitute.com review or optical institute coupons.  While we do know that you can in fact order contact lenses without a current prescription from Optical Institute, based in Portugal, we don't have any feed back to date (March 2011) from visitors as to the experience ordering contact lenses from this company.

We do see a high ranked complaint lodged against them for not delivering customers contact lenses after the customer claims they paid in full for them - http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/optical-institute-c316774.html - but in the same thread others say they have had decent experiences.  We recommend you get contact lenses without a prescription from LensPlanet but if you use Optical Institute please take the time to post a review or comment here on your experience to help future visitors seeking the same information you searched for.

As far as we can tell Optical Institute doesn't offer any coupons or coupon codes for use at www.opticalinstitute.com.  If you find a valid coupon please post it here for others to benefit from.

You need to of course know your prescription details but given that info yes you can order contact lenses from the UK without a current prescription.  Our home page provides our best recommendation to buy lenses without a prescription.

Most contact lenses retailers in Canada and in the United States will require you to input your doctor or eye care provider's contact information so that they can verify your prescription is still current.   There may be more of course but the 2 UK contact lenses sellers that we know of are below.  Our visitors report excellent service and pricing from LensPlanet.

Order contact lenses from LensPlanet.com

ContactForLenses.com

FAQ: Will Coastal Contacts ship without a prescription?

Answer: Not likely.   There might be some cases when Coastal Contacts would ship vision correction contact lenses without a current prescription but it certainly wouldn't be standard procedure.  They might ship your lenses for instance if you added prescription information but for some reason they  tried to verify your Rx and they didn't get a response saying that your prescription expired.  They do require your  Doctor's information and prescription details.  I think perhaps that a few years ago they may not have required prescriptions for United States customers but that has certainly changed.

While Coastal may not be a good current option you do have options.  Use this link to buy contact lenses without entering any prescription info.