HispanicBusiness

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission Monday announced that it settled cases against three Internet retailers of cosmetic "circle" contact lenses.

The government had charged that the retailers were selling the contact lenses online without verifying that consumers had a prescription for them, which retailers are required to check, even if the lenses do not provide vision correction.

Federal law requires the Food and Drug Administration to regulate all contact lenses, including those with no vision correction, as medical devices. Additionally, state law mandates that contact lenses can only be prescribed by a optometrist or physician. That makes selling them without a prescription illegal in Pennsylvania.

Improper use of contact lenses, the FDA says, can cause corneal ulcers, corneal abrasions, vision impairment and blindness.

Circle lenses are a type of decorative lens that covers not just the iris of the eye, as standard lenses do, but the white area as well, the FTC said. Wearing these lenses makes the eyes appear larger, it said.

The FTC reached settlements with Royal Tronics Inc. of Florida and Jamil Hindi; Gene Kim of New York; and Thy Xuan Ho of Minnesota, it said

According to the FTC, Hindi sold prescription contacts and circle cosmetic contact lenses through Royal Tronics Inc. on the website http://www.mycandyeyes.com. Kim sold lenses on his website http://www.buyexclusive.net; and Ho, also known as Brandon Lee, sold the lenses on http://www.mycutelens.com.

The settlement orders prohibit the defendants from selling contact lenses without obtaining a prescription from a consumer, or verifying prescriptions by communicating directly with a prescriber; failing to maintain records of prescriptions and verifications; and violating its Contact Lens Rule.

The settlement with Hindi and Royal imposes a $68,000 civil penalty, which will be suspended upon payment of $20,000, the FTC said. The other settlements impose civil penalties of $24,000 on Kim and $5,400 on Ho, both of which are suspended because of their inability to pay, the government said.

The settlements bring the FTC's total number of contact lens enforcement actions to 10 since the agency issued the Contact Lens Rule in 2004, it said in a statement.

A survey this year by the American Optometric Association found that 36 percent of people who reported wearing cosmetic contact lenses with no vision correction said they bought them without a prescription.