1800 Contacts, as the world’s largest virtual market of contact lenses, offers a cheap and easy way of buying lenses through its call center and website. Thanks to the contact lenses’ features of being standardized product (most of the contact lenses can be prefabricated, while few needs custom made for special prescriptions), consumers quickly accepted 1800 Contacts as an alternate way of buying lenses. From the government level, a federal legislation, the Fairness of Contact Lenses Consumers Act, was enacted a couple of years ago. This Act requires the doctor must provide the patients a copy of the contact lens prescription after finishing the eye exam and contact lens fitting. This law fully enhances the patients’ benefits of choosing their own place to buy the contact lenses.
1800 Contacts fully understands its subtle relations with the doctors, meanwhile 1800 Contacts also is aware of the significance of doctors’ role in the whole operating of 1800 Contacts. In other words, 1800 Contacts will have no business without the cooperation from doctors. For this reason 1800 Contacts tries very best to respect the doctors and their patients. Under present situation, doctors are almost forced to work with 1800 Contacts, as the competition between eye care professionals and 1800 Contacts physically exists. In front of own interests and benefits, the situation becomes awkward.
But things can’t be reversed. As long as the existence of 1800 Contacts greatly benefits the consuming public, it will for sure grow and boom. Some experts predict that soon a kind of independent third party contact lens fitting lab will provide prescription and fitting service ONLY without selling contact lenses itself.