FTC Contact Lens Rule

In August 2015, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) invited public comment on its Contact Lens Rule. In keeping with our purpose to help improve the way people see each day, CooperVision is actively participating in efforts to recommend modifications to the Rule that will promote healthy lens wear. 

CooperVision helped form the Coalition for Patient Vision Care Safety (the Coalition) along with the American Optometric Association (AOA), Alcon, Bausch + Lomb, and Johnson & Johnson.

The Coalition has submitted comments to the FTC emphasizing the importance of a strong and trusted relationship between patients and their eye care professionals in order to protect and preserve eye health. The Coalition also recommended improving the Contact Lens Rule through increased enforcement, addressing weaknesses with passive prescription verification, and placing reasonable limits on the quantity of contact lenses that a patient can purchase under a prescription, especially within a few months of a prescription expiring.

Likewise, CooperVision independently submitted comments to the FTC, reiterating the critical need to improve the Contact Lens Rule through measured and effective modifications that will prove advantageous to the millions of consumers who wear lenses every day.

Over the coming months, as the FTC considers modifications to the Rule, CooperVision will remain an active member of the Coalition for Patient Vision Care Safety, sharing insights, counsel and expertise with policymakers from coast to coast.

We remain committed to advancing the state of healthy contact lens wear, and applaud our fellow industry leaders, government officials and especially thousands of dedicated eye care professionals for their support of the same.

Jerry Warner
President, North America

Gary Orsborn, OD, M.S., FAAO, FBCLA
Vice President, Global Professional and Clinical Affairs