A contact lens prescription is good for at least one year from the date you receive it, and in about ten states it lasts two years. Federal law sets the one-year floor, states can extend it, and your prescriber can only shorten it for a documented medical reason.
The Federal One-Year Minimum
The Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act sets a nationwide baseline: every contact lens prescription stays valid for at least one year. The rule lives in 15 U.S.C. ยง 7604, which says a prescription expires no sooner than one year after its “issue date” unless state law sets a longer period.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 7604 – Expiration of Contact Lens Prescriptions
One detail matters more than most people realize. The statute defines “issue date” as the date you actually receive a copy of your prescription, not the date of the exam.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 7604 – Expiration of Contact Lens Prescriptions Usually those happen the same day. If your provider finishes a fitting but delays handing you the written prescription, though, the one-year clock hasn’t started yet.
States That Allow Two-Year Prescriptions
Federal law is a floor, not a ceiling. If your state sets a longer validity period, the state rule controls.2eCFR. 16 CFR 315.6 – Expiration of Contact Lens Prescriptions Roughly ten states currently allow contact lens prescriptions to last two years, including California, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington. Everywhere else, either the state follows the one-year federal minimum or doesn’t set a period at all, in which case the federal default applies.
Even in a one-year state, your prescriber can voluntarily write a longer expiration if they think it’s appropriate for your eyes.3Federal Trade Commission. The Contact Lens Rule: A Guide for Prescribers and Sellers Few do, but it’s worth asking if your eyes have been stable for years.
When a Prescription Can Be Shorter Than One Year
A prescriber can set an expiration shorter than one year, but only for a genuine medical reason tied to your eye health. It isn’t a lever for pushing patients to buy lenses in-house. The prescriber must document the specific medical justification in your records in enough detail that another qualified professional could review it, and keep those records for at least three years and make them available to the FTC on request.2eCFR. 16 CFR 315.6 – Expiration of Contact Lens Prescriptions
Situations that can justify a shorter expiration include newly diagnosed keratoconus, a recent corneal infection, or a first-time wearer whose fit needs to be rechecked sooner than usual. The expiration date still cannot be shorter than the interval the prescriber recommends for a medically necessary follow-up.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 7604 – Expiration of Contact Lens Prescriptions
What Happens When Your Prescription Expires
Once the expiration date passes, no seller can legally fill an order for you. Online retailers reject expired prescriptions during verification, and walk-in stores do the same. There is no grace period.
Beyond the legal barrier, wearing lenses on a long-expired prescription carries real risks. Your eyes change gradually, and lens parameters that worked a year or two ago may not fit anymore. A lens with the wrong base curve can sit too tightly and starve your cornea of oxygen, or too loosely and slide around causing irritation. An outdated power means blurred vision, eye strain, and headaches. An annual exam also catches problems you can’t feel yet. Corneal neovascularization from chronic lens wear, early glaucoma, and subtle infections are often silent until they’ve done damage.
Renewing Your Prescription
Renewing means scheduling a comprehensive eye exam with a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist. The visit has two parts: a general eye health evaluation and a contact-lens-specific fitting.
The general evaluation includes vision acuity testing, an eye pressure check, and an examination of the front and back structures of your eyes. This is where the provider screens for glaucoma, cataracts, and retinal issues, and adjusts your refractive prescription if your vision has shifted.
The fitting is separate. The provider measures the curvature of your cornea and watches how trial lenses sit on your eye, checking that each lens moves appropriately with a blink and centers over the cornea. A lens that’s too tight restricts oxygen flow; too loose, and it drifts and irritates. Switching brands or lens types adds time here, because the new lens has to be confirmed against your eye shape.
When both parts are done, the provider issues a new prescription and hands you a copy. Federal law requires them to give it to you at the end of the fitting whether you ask or not, without an extra fee and without conditioning it on buying lenses from them.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 7601 – Availability of Contact Lens Prescriptions to Patients Mention any discomfort, dryness, or vision changes you’ve noticed since your last visit; those details help the provider pick better parameters and can flag problems worth monitoring.
Eyeglasses Prescriptions Follow Different Rules
If you also wear glasses, don’t assume the same expiration applies. Eyeglasses prescriptions have no federal expiration rule. Each state sets its own validity period, generally one to two years, and where a state doesn’t regulate it, the prescriber decides. The two prescriptions also contain different information and are not interchangeable: a contact lens prescription includes lens-specific measurements like base curve, diameter, and brand, because contacts sit on the eye and must be fitted to its shape. You cannot order contacts with a glasses prescription, or glasses with a contacts prescription.