This is another of the scams that they perpetrate on us. For a large number of us, our prescriptions really don't change outside of the tolerances of human error and daily differences -- "One or two? Click. Click. One or two? Click. Click. One or two? Click. Click. Click."

I know for a fact that my last two prescriptions haven't changed enough to warrant a new pair of glasses. How do I know this? My ophthalmologist told me so. Something to the effect of, "this is a very minor change, if you don't need new glasses, you certainly don't need to get new ones." I'm no doctor, but I think I understand what he's trying to relate. He's a good guy and why I keep going back every two years to get my eyes checked out. It's not for the the prescription, I can tell if I need a new one. It's for the eye-pressure tests and all of the other things they look to catch early before they become a problem.

I have a "valid" prescription. It's less than a year old. I always have a valid prescription, but if I didn't for the year and needed new glasses, the eyeglasses store at the mall would have me over a barrel on a technicality.

No longer. I didn't need to fax anyone my prescription when I ordered from Zenni and Goggles4U. I entered the numbers on a form on a web page, checked them for accuracy (about 6 times), and hit submit. My PD was easy enough to measure. Like all of this stuff, it ain't "rocket surgery".

This two-year prescription law is protectionist, it's also pretty much unenforceable. I can't imagine any "hard time" for using a three-year old prescription.

If your lenses are still working for you and they get scratched or broken and you're in "prescription limbo-land" there is no reason you shouldn't consider ordering online and taping up your glasses for the interim.

Better yet, order the $25 pair right now and don't fret.