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FTC issues warnings to online cosmetic contact lens sellers
Internet retailers claiming that cosmetic contact lenses do not require prescriptions received warning letters from the FTC.
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The Federal Trade Commission has issued warning letters to retailers who appear to be selling cosmetic contact lenses on the Internet without prescriptions.
A press release from the FTC said the letters to 18 online sellers of cosmetic or colored contact lenses warned that violations of the Contact Lens Rule are punishable by civil penalties of up to $11,000 per violation.
The Contact Lens Rule, issued by the FTC, implements the law stating that all contact lenses, including cosmetic lenses, are restricted medical devices that require a prescription for purchase.
Staff at the FTC issued 18 warning letters on June 27 to online sellers of cosmetic or colored contact lenses. According to the FTC, most of the sellers to whom the letters went claim on their Web sites that the lenses are nonprescription or do not require prescriptions.
“Such advertising claims violate the Contact Lens Rule,” the FTC press release said.
Most of the sellers also “may not be verifying that those who attempt to buy cosmetic contacts from them have valid prescriptions,” according to the FTC.
“The letters urge the cosmetic contact lens sellers to review the Rule and revise their practices as necessary to ensure they are complying with its requirements and warn them that violations of the Rule are punishable by civil penalties of up to $11,000 per violation,” the release stated.
Contact Lens Act and Rule
In 2003, Congress enacted the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act, which called for the release of prescriptions to contact lens patients and the verification of prescription information by contact lens sellers. That law was implemented in 2004 when the FTC issued the Contact Lens Rule.
The law was amended in November 2005 to state that all contact lenses, including cosmetic lenses, are prescription devices. With that amendment, the Contact Lens Rule now requires that all contact lenses, whether refractive or plano, be purchased with a proper prescription.
All contact lens retailers are required to verify a prescription’s validity by contacting the prescriber, according to the FTC. Failure to do so is a violation of the rule.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, “Decorative contact lenses present significant risks of blindness and other eye injury if they are distributed without proper fitting by a qualified eye care professional,” the FTC release said.
Educating retailers
To educate prescribing eye care practitioners and retailers, the FTC issued “The Contact Lens Rule: A Guide for Prescribers and Sellers,” which is available on the FTC’s Web site.
According to the guide, by implementing the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act, the rule expanded the consumer’s ability to “shop around” for contact lenses by requiring practitioners to give patients a copy of their lens prescription after a fitting, “even if a patient doesn’t ask for it.”
Retailers are also required by the rule to validate the consumers’ prescription before selling any type of contact lens.
“The consumer provides prescription information to the seller, who then submits it to the prescriber in a verification request,” the guide states. “The prescriber has eight business hours to respond. If the prescriber does not respond within the required time, the prescription is verified automatically.”
Sellers must verify the patient’s full name, address, contact lens power, base curve or appropriate designation and/or diameter, quantity of lenses, date of patient’s order, date and time of their verification request, a contact for the seller, including name, fax and phone numbers, as well as a clear statement of the prescribing doctor’s Saturday business hours if they plan to use those hours as part of the eight-hour verification window, according to the guide.
Prescriptions are verified when a prescribing doctor confirms the accuracy to the seller, informs the seller directly of inaccuracies and corrects them, or fails to verify the prescription within the eight business hours period.
“The seller must give the prescriber a reasonable opportunity to get in touch with the seller about the verification request,” the guide states.
Also according to the guide, contact lens sellers may not alter prescriptions, fill prescriptions without a verification, fill prescriptions that have been deemed inaccurate by the prescribing physician or tell consumers that they can purchase contact lenses without a prescription.
For more information:
- The Federal Trade Commission document The Contact Lens Rule: A Guide for Prescribers and Sellers is available at www.ftc.gov or through the FTCs Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20580; 877-FTC-HELP.
- Daniele Cruz is an OSN Staff Writer who covers all aspects of ophthalmology.