If a prescriber breaks the rule

What counts as a violation

• Not handing over your glasses prescription right after the exam, or your contacts prescription when the fitting is complete. (16 CFR 456.2(a)(1); 16 CFR 315.3(a)(1))
• Charging a fee to release it, beyond the exam or fitting fee itself. (16 CFR 456.2(c); 16 CFR 315.3(b)(2))
• Requiring you to buy glasses or lenses there, or conditioning the exam on a purchase. (16 CFR 456.2(b); 16 CFR 315.3(b)(1))
• Making you sign a waiver or disclaimer about accuracy as a condition of release. (16 CFR 456.2(d); 16 CFR 315.3(b)(3))
• A contacts prescription shorter than one year with no documented medical reason. (16 CFR 315.6)
• Dodging or refusing a seller's verification request to block an order without a stated reason. (16 CFR 315.5(e))

Step one: report to the FTC

File at reportfraud.ftc.gov. It takes about five minutes, no account needed. The FTC does not resolve individual complaints, but it does mail warning letters to prescribers and sellers, and it has brought civil penalty cases against both. Your report is the raw material.

What to include, factually and briefly:

• The office name, location, and date of your visit.
• What happened, in a sentence or two: "I completed an eye exam and paid. The office refused to give me my prescription unless I bought glasses there."
• The rule it violates, if you want to name it: the Eyeglass Rule (16 CFR Part 456) or the Contact Lens Rule (16 CFR Part 315).
• What you asked for and what they said, plus copies of any emails. Names help if you have them.

Step two: report to the state licensing board

Every optometrist and ophthalmologist holds a state license, and the licensing board is the body with direct power over it. Boards take prescription-release complaints seriously because the obligation is unambiguous. Search your state name plus "optometry board complaint" for an optometrist, or your state name plus "medical board complaint" for an ophthalmologist (an MD or DO). Most boards accept complaints online with the same facts you gave the FTC.

If a seller is the problem

Sellers violate the Contact Lens Rule too: substituting brands, skipping verification, or selling with no prescription at all. The FTC's $3.5 million Hubble settlement in 2022 covered exactly that conduct. Same form, same place: reportfraud.ftc.gov.

Keep your paper

Save receipts, the prescription if you eventually got it, and any emails either direction. If you paid for a duplicate exam somewhere else because an office withheld your prescription, note the amount; concrete harm makes every complaint stronger.