I have always loved the ability to buy things on the Internet. With just a few clicks, you can have some new music on your computer or get yourself some new clothes or even pick out a new book to read.

Recently, I discovered another cool thing I could order online – contact lenses. But the simple process of allowing myself to see the world clearly has brought one big question to my mind.

What is with the militant oversight of vision prescriptions?

I went to order my lenses online, and the web site told me that my order may be delayed while they confirmed my prescription with my doctor.

As usual, I had waited until the last minute to get new lenses. I could tell that the pair I had in my eyes would only last me a few more days so I hoped that I wouldn’t run afoul of some sort of vision investigative team.

Are there rogue consumers out there buying eyeglasses and contact lenses which don’t match their prescription? Did I miss the news story where that had become a major problem in our society?

Maybe that explains some of the bad drivers out there. Unbeknownst to most of us, people have forged prescriptions and obtained glasses which distort their vision. Then they go out and drive like maniacs, vexing those of us who have legal prescriptions for our eyewear.

I hope that’s the case because then I don’t mind going through the motions in order to get my lenses. But someone like me should really get a pass because no one would be dumb enough to go out and buy lenses the strength that I need. You’d pass out from the headache in no time flat.

Maybe the problem isn’t people getting fake prescriptions after all. Maybe people have started to abuse those low-power lenses you can buy at the store.

Sure, first they just wear the lowest power so they can read small print. Then they move up to the next highest power. Then the next. Finally, they can’t help themselves and have three or four pair perched upon their nose just so they can get a fix. Those things are a sort of gateway drug.

That would be a sad sight and might explain why I need to jump through hoops to get contact lenses for about the 400^th time in my life. Can’t we work on an honor system?

Now I know that if you can’t see well, you need to go to an eye doctor to find out what strength lenses you need. If you are like me and have really poor vision, you need to make sure that you get the right lenses to make sure you can function.

But when you go to a web site or a vision center, can’t you just buy what you want? I didn’t have to wait any longer to get my lenses, but it just made me wonder exactly how many illegal vision prescriptions are floating around out there to make this an issue.

That does kind of explain the whole concept of being legally blind, however. Maybe the illegally blind industry just went a little too far.