16 CFR Part 456 and Part 315
Your eye doctor has to hand over your prescription. Federal law says so.
Two FTC rules make your glasses and contact lens prescriptions yours: free, automatic, no purchase required. That means you can walk out of the exam and buy your eyewear anywhere, including online shops where a complete pair of glasses often costs less than the frame alone at the office. This site explains both rules in plain English, with citations, and gives you the exact words to use when an office pretends otherwise.
Glasses
The Eyeglass Rule
After any exam that measures your prescription, the doctor must hand you a copy immediately, free, whether or not you ask. They cannot make you buy glasses there, charge a release fee, or make you sign a waiver. Since 2024, offices that sell eyewear also have to get your signature confirming you received it.
Read the whole rule, plainlyContacts
The Contact Lens Rule
When your fitting is complete, the prescription is automatically yours, good for at least a year in most cases. Online sellers verify it with your doctor, and if the doctor ignores the request for eight business hours, the sale goes through anyway. The rule was built so you could shop around.
Read the whole rule, plainlyThe words to use
Pick your situation (at the exam, after the fact, they refused, they want a fee) and get a script plus a copy-paste email citing the exact rule section. Everything runs in your browser.
Open the script toolThe PD gotcha
Pupillary distance is the one number online glasses orders need that your prescription usually omits, because federal law does not require it. Here is why, and how to measure it yourself.
Measure your PD at homeIf they break the rule
Refusals, release fees, and waiver forms are rule violations. Reporting one takes about five minutes at the FTC and your state licensing board, and here is exactly what to say.
How to complain, calmlyThe money, stated honestly
In Consumer Reports member surveys, a complete pair of glasses ran a median of about $400 at private doctors' offices and independent shops, about $184 at Costco Optical, and about $69 at Zenni. Same prescription, same federal right to fill it anywhere. Contacts show a smaller but real gap between the office price and warehouse-club or online pricing. The buying guides below compare the channels honestly, including what you give up when you leave the office: fitting, adjustments, and a human who answers when something is wrong.
Some retailer links on those pages may earn this site a commission; no retailer pays for placement or ranking.