Lawmaker says there’s no medical reason to limit prescriptions to one year.
A bill recently introduced in the Arizona House of Representatives would allow those who wear contact lenses to wait two years before they need an eye exam to get their prescriptions renewed, as Tuscon.com explains.
According to the article, the bill’s brainchild is Rep. Heather Carter (R-Cave Creek), who says there’s no medical reason for the current laws that mandate contact-lens wearers to have an eye exam every year in order to renew their prescriptions. She adds that, in states with two-year limits, there’s no evidence suggesting that contact-lens wearers have medical complications that don’t exist in other states.
This sentiment, however, is meeting opposition from medical groups, including the Arizona Optometric Association. “[Contact lenses] have inherent to them things that can affect the corneal integrity, the surface of the eye, the ocular surface that patients aren’t necessarily aware of. We need to be able to diagnose and intervene at an appropriate time so they don’t become more serious complications,” optometrist Annette Hanian of the AOA told the news outlet.
Read more at Tuscon.com