Optometry - Journal of the American Optometric Association
Volume 79, Issue 1 , Pages 23-35 , January 2008

Contact lenses purchased over the Internet place individuals potentially at risk for harmful eye care practices

  • Joshua Fogel, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author: Joshua Fogel, Ph.D., Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Department of Economics, 218A, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11210.
  • ,
  • Chaya Zidile

References 

  1. American Optometric Association. Caring for the eyes of America: a profile of the optometric profession. St. Louis: AOA; 1996;ID1/196
  2. Wang Q, Klein EK, Klein R, et al. Refractive status in the Beaver Dam eye study. Invest Opthalmol Vis Sci. 1994;35:4344–4347
  3. Barr JT. 2004 Annual Report (Contact Lens Spectrum). 2005;http://www.clspectrum.com/article.aspx?article=12733Last accessed December 5, 2006
  4. Baker L, Wagner TH, Singer S, et al. Use of the Internet and e-mail for health care information; results from a national survey. JAMA. 2003;289:2400–2406
  5. Fox S. Online health search 2006. 2006;http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Online_Health_2006.pdfLast accessed December 5, 2006
  6. Madden M, Fox S. Finding answers online in sickness and in health. 2006;http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Health_Decisions_2006.pdfLast accessed December 5, 2006
  7. Pew Internet and American Life Project (Internet: the mainstreaming of online life). 2005;http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/Internet_Status_2005.pdfLast accessed December 5, 2006
  8. Dahlen M, Lange F. Real consumers in the virtual store. Scand J Manage. 2002;18:341–346
  9. Federal Trade Commission. Possible anticompetitive barriers to e-commerce: contact lenses. 2004;http://www.ftc.gov/os/2004/03/040329clreportfinal.pdfLast accessed December 5, 2006
  10. Federal Trade Commission. The strength of competition in the sale of RX contact lenses: an FTC study. 2005;http://www.ftc.gov/reports/contactlens/050214contactlensrpt.pdfLast accessed February 27, 2007
  11. Segre L. How to buy contact lenses online. 2006;http://www.allaboutvision.com/buysmart/buying-contacts-online.htmLast accessed December 5, 2006
  12. Gurau C. Pharmaceutical marketing on the Internet: marketing techniques and customer profile. J Consum Mark. 2005;22(7):421–428
  13. Bruckel K, Capozzoli E. Internet pharmaceutical sales: attributes, concerns, and future forecast. J Hosp Mark Public Relations. 2003;15(1):61–76
  14. Bessel TL, Silagy CA, Anderson JN, et al. Quality of global e-pharmacies: can we safeguard consumers?. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2002;58:567–572
  15. Weiss AM. Buying prescription drugs on the Internet: promises and pitfalls. Cleve Clin J Med. 2006;73(3):282–288
  16. Federal Trade Commission. The contact lens rule: a guide for prescribers and sellers. 2004;http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/contact.htmLast accessed February 27, 2007
  17. Pechtl H. Adoption of online shopping by German grocery shoppers. Int Rev Retail Distrib Consum Res. 2003;13(2):145–159
  18. Cho CH, Kang J, Cheon HJ. Online shopping hesitation. Cyberpsychol Behav. 2006;9(3):261–274
  19. Friese M, Wanke M, Plessner H. Implicit consumer preferences and their influence on product choice. Psychol Mark. 2006;23(9):724–740
  20. Mittal B. An integrated framework for relating diverse consumer characteristics to supermarket coupon redemption. J Mark Res. 1994;31:533–544
  21. Lewis C. Buying contact lenses by phone, mail or the Internet (FDA Consumer 2001). http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2001/501_eyes.htmlLast accessed December 5, 2006
  22. Eysenbach G, Powell J, Kuss O, et al. Empirical studies assessing the quality of health information for consumers on the World Wide Web: a systematic review. JAMA. 2002;287:2691–2700
  23. Colman SS, Jones RD, Serdahl CL, et al. The impact of managed eye care on use of vision services, vision costs, and patient satisfaction. Value Health. 2004;7:195–203
  24. Efron N, Morgan PB, Hill EA, et al. Incidence and morbidity of hospital-presenting corneal infiltrative events associated with contact lens wear. Clin Exp Optom. 2005;88:232–239
  25. Cheng KH, Leung SL, Hoekman HW, et al. Incidence of contact-lens-associated microbial keratitis and its related morbidity. Lancet. 1999;354:179–183
  26. Lam DSC, Houang E, Fan DSP, et al. Hong Kong Microbial Keratitis Study Group Incidence and risk factors for microbial keratitis in Hong Kong: comparison with Europe and North America. Eye. 2002;16:608–618
  27. Schein OD, Glynn RJ, Poggio EC, et al. The relative risk of ulcerative keratitis among users of daily-wear and extended-wear soft contact lenses (A case-control study. Microbial Keratitis Study Group). N Engl J Med. 1989;321:773–778
  28. Schein OD, Buehler PO, Stamler JF, et al. The impact of overnight wear on the risk of contact lens-associated ulcerative keratitis. Arch Opthalmol. 1994;112:186–190
  29. Kunst H, Groot D, Latthe PM, et al. Accuracy of information on apparently credible Websites: survey of five common health topics. BMJ. 2002;324:581–582
  30. Schwartz KL, Roe T, Northrup J, et al. Family medicine patients’ use of the Internet for health information: a metronet study. J Am Board Fam Med. 2006;19:39–45
  31. Eysenbach G. The impact of the Internet on cancer outcome. CA Cancer J Clin. 2003;53:356–357

PII: S1529-1839(07)00606-9

doi: 10.1016/j.optm.2007.07.013

Optometry - Journal of the American Optometric Association
Volume 79, Issue 1 , Pages 23-35 , January 2008