The "way" for a mail order contact lens industry did not become clear until the Federal Trade Commission ruled in 1985, that eye doctors (Ophthalmologists and Optometrists) must provide the contact lens prescription to their patients so that the patient may shop for contact lenses as a consumer.
Linda J. Kaplan, MD, Ophthalmologist, a consultant to the FTC, and a liaison to the Ethics Committee for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, was an advocate for patient consumerism and joined forces with Lens Express in 1987.