How Long Is a Glasses Prescription Good For? (And Why They Expire)

It’s a familiar frustration: you’re ready to buy a new pair of stylish glasses, you find the perfect frames online, but when you go to check out, you see it. An expiration date on your eyeglass prescription.

It can be frustrating to see that date, especially if your vision feels perfectly stable. You might even wonder if it’s just a way to get you back into the optometrist's chair.

But that expiration date serves a critical purpose beyond vision correction—it’s about your overall eye health. Here’s a clear breakdown of your prescription's duration, why it expires, and what to do next.

The Simple Answer: How Long Most Prescriptions Last

For most adults, an eyeglass prescription is valid for one to two years from the date of your eye exam.

The exact date is set by your eye doctor and is determined by two factors: your state's specific laws and your personal eye health. If you are at a higher risk for vision changes, your prescription may be set to expire after only one year.

Why Do Glasses Prescriptions Expire? (It’s Not Just About Your Vision)

The main reason for prescription expiration is to ensure you get a regular, comprehensive eye health exam. It’s easy to think of an eye exam as just a vision test, but it’s one of the most important preventative health checkups you can get.

Checking for "Silent" Eye Diseases

Your eye doctor does much more than just ask, "Which is clearer, 1 or 2?" During an exam, they dilate your pupils to look inside your eye, checking for serious, asymptomatic conditions that you would never be able to feel, including:

• Glaucoma: A disease that damages the optic nerve, often with no early symptoms.
• Macular Degeneration: A leading cause of vision loss.
• Diabetic Retinopathy: Damage to the retina's blood vessels, a major complication of diabetes.

An eye exam can also be the first place other systemic health issues, like high blood pressure or tumors, are detected. This is also a good time to check for changes in common refractive errors, like astigmatism.

Your Vision Can Change (Even If You Don’t Notice)

Your vision can change gradually over a year or two. This change might be so subtle that you don't actively notice it, but it can still have an impact. Using an outdated, inaccurate prescription can lead to chronic eye strain, persistent headaches, and fatigue. A regular exam ensures your correction is as sharp as it can be.

The Legal Requirement

It is illegal for any vendor—whether an online retailer or a physical store—to sell you eyeglasses using an expired prescription. This rule is in place to protect you and ensure you are not using an inaccurate prescription or skipping essential health checks.

Who Decides the Expiration Date? State Law vs. Federal Law

This is a major source of confusion for many people. The rules are different for glasses and contact lenses.

Eyeglass Prescriptions: Set by Your State

In the United States, no single federal law sets the expiration date for eyeglass prescriptions. Instead, each state's Board of Optometry makes these rules at the state level.

This is why the "one to two year" rule is a range. Most states mandate a minimum validity of either one or two years. Your doctor will then follow that state law and may shorten the time (e.g., to one year) if you have a medical reason for more frequent checkups. These regulations are taken seriously; the American Optometric Association (AOA) even provides resources to help doctors comply with the latest rule updates.

The Big Difference: Contact Lens Prescriptions

Contact lenses, on the other hand, are regulated by the FTC's "Contact Lens Rule." This federal law mandates that a contact lens prescription must be valid for at least one year (unless there's a specific medical reason documented by your doctor).

Contacts are stricter because they are classified as medical devices that sit directly on your eye. This carries a higher risk of complications, like eye infections or corneal ulcers, making an annual exam essential to check the fit of the lenses and the health of your cornea.

Does Prescription Length Change Based on Age or Health?

Yes. The 1-to-2-year rule is for the average, healthy adult. For other groups, the timeline is almost always shorter.

Prescriptions for Children (Under 18)

You can expect a child's eyeglass prescription to be valid for one year, every time.

A child's vision develops and changes rapidly as they grow. Annual exams are essential to ensure they have the proper correction for learning and to detect and treat common conditions like amblyopia (lazy eye) or strabismus (crossed eyes). This is why staying on schedule is so important, even when ordering children's glasses online.

"At-Risk" Patients and Shorter Prescriptions

Your eye doctor has the legal and medical authority to set a shorter prescription date (typically one year) for any patient they deem "at-risk." Common reasons for this include:

• Patients with diabetes or high blood pressure
• Patients with a family history of glaucoma or macular degeneration
• Older adults are at a higher risk of cataracts
• Patients taking medications that are known to have vision-related side effects

Your Prescription Has Expired. What Now?

You have a clear, three-step path forward if you hold an expired prescription.

1. Confirm the Date: First, double-check the expiration date printed directly on your prescription. If it's still valid, you're good to go. If it's expired, you will not be able to purchase new glasses.
2. Schedule a Comprehensive Eye Exam: This is the non-negotiable next step. If you're wondering how long an eye exam takes, it's typically under an hour. Think of it as a clear, necessary action to protect your long-term health. By federal law (the FTC's "Eyeglass Rule"), your prescriber must give you a copy of your prescription at the end of your exam, whether you ask for it or not.
3. Explore Your Options with a New Prescription: Once your exam is complete and you have your updated prescription in hand, the frustrating part is over. Now, you can use that prescription to explore new styles. Vooglam makes this easy, allowing you to upload your prescription file or enter the details directly, giving you access to a wide range of affordable and fashionable frames.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a 2-year-old glasses prescription?

You can only use a 2-year-old prescription if your doctor wrote it with a 2-year expiration date and that date has not passed. The 1-2 year validity period starts from your exam date, not from the day you buy glasses. If your prescription was written for one year, it is expired after that year and cannot be used.

Do eyeglass prescriptions expire?

Yes. All eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions have a legally binding expiration date. This is done to ensure you get regular, comprehensive eye health checkups and to confirm that your vision correction is accurate.

What's the difference between a glasses and a contact lens prescription?

They are not interchangeable, and you cannot use one to buy the other. A contact lens prescription is a federally regulated medical prescription that includes extra measurements (like base curve, diameter, and brand) and is valid for at least one year. A glasses prescription is regulated at the state level (typically valid 1-2 years) and measures for lenses that sit a small distance away from your eyes. They are not interchangeable.

How often do I need a new prescription for glasses?

Most healthy adults should get a comprehensive eye exam every one to two years, at which point they will receive a new prescription. Children under 18 and "at-risk" adults (such as those with diabetes) should have an exam annually.