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Contact lenses are tiny, thin lenses—made up of soft plastic materials—that fit on the surface of your eye and work to correct refractive errors and improve your overall sight.

Roughly 45 million Americans wear contacts, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and if you’re one of them, it might seem like there are millions of options to choose from, especially these days, with new online retailers popping up all the time[1]Fast Facts . Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed 8/1/22. .

To make things a little clearer, the Forbes Health editorial team has collected our top picks for the best places to order contacts online. The editorial team assessed more than 30 websites across the market, factoring in cost, product availability, customer support and other features. Here are the top picks.

Note: Star rankings are assigned solely by the editorial team. Prices are based on the lowest option available, are accurate as of publication and are subject to change. Consult An Ophthalmologist Zocdoc helps you find and book top-rated doctors, on demand. Visit them in their offices, or video chat with them from home. Check out the ophthalmologists in your area. Find An Ophthalmologist

Zocdoc helps you find and book top-rated doctors, on demand. Visit them in their offices, or video chat with them from home. Check out the ophthalmologists in your area.

Discount Contacts offers the largest variety of contact brands among the online retailers analyzed, including colored contacts as well as options for glasses. Plus, Discount Contacts offers a free consultation or eye exam for new patients—the only company on our ranking with this offer. Shoppers have the option of using the website to upload their prescription or can have the company reach out directly to their eye care provider to verify the needed information.

Warby Parker ranks highest for customer support since it connects users with local professionals for eye exams, offers live customer service, accepts returns and exchanges, has a mobile app and has a variety of contact options. While the company doesn’t provide a free initial consultation, it does connect shoppers with local professionals for eye exam access, offers live customer service and comes equipped with a mobile app for on-the-go use. To place an order, customers simply need a picture of their official contact lens prescription or their prescription values, preferred lens brand and doctor’s contact information. New customers or individuals who need a fitting can also browse the website for a number of in-store locations that can conduct a complete exam. The site also includes a virtual vision test on iOS that can help renew expired subscriptions for eligible customers.

While Discount Contacts offers the most contact brands, 1800Contacts has the most lens types (i.e. vial, soft, multifocal and bifocal lenses and toric contacts for astigmatism). It also offers disposable contacts. Additionally, if you need a specific order with different brands in each eye, the site allows you to easily order under those parameters. The company also offers flexible return and exchange options for those who need to send something back.

Those looking for a quick and easy experience might find a good option in Walmart. Like many of the other retailers on this list, Walmart offers free shipping, a subscription-based purchase model and allows shoppers to buy in bulk with up to a year’s supply of contacts. But Walmart can also ping you with an alert when it’s time for a prescription refill in addition to all of its other customer-service elements. For customers not used to ordering contacts online, the site offers a “How to Read Your Contact Lens Prescription” review page they can view before ordering to make sure they get the right lenses. The store can also obtain your prescription for you for a small fee.

GlassesUSA.com grabs the highest spot in terms of insurance options. Still, if price is an issue, the company also offers a price-match guarantee, a 100% money-back guarantee and has a free shipping and return policy. This brand is noted as “excellent” on review website Trustpilot, ranking 4.5 out of 5 stars with more than 42,000 customer reviews describing the experience as “easy” and “fast.”

To determine the best places to order contacts online in 2022, the Forbes Health editorial team analyzed many different data points, including:

All star rankings are determined solely by the editorial team.

Contacts are prescribed by an eye doctor for those with vision issues like nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. They may also be used to treat conditions and diseases; for example, individuals who do not receive an implanted lens during cataract surgery.

Talk with your health care provider if you are having trouble with your vision and think you may be a good candidate for contacts. A licensed professional will need to conduct an eye exam to determine the strength of your prescription, proper lens size and other important aspects.

There are multiple types of contacts you can choose from including different shades and size options, but it’s easy to think about all contacts in two main categories:

Contacts may offer unique advantages over glasses, such as potentially increasing the wearer’s field of vision due to the fact that there is no frame. They also don’t typically distort or reflect light. But contacts are not an option for everyone, and in some cases may not be the best alternative.

If any of the following apply to you, you may want to talk to your doctor and consider using glasses over contacts:

You must have a valid, up-to-date prescription from an eye care professional in order to buy contact lenses in person or online, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

You may be asked to take a photo of, or upload certain information, from your prescription if the contact lens website doesn’t reach out to your doctor directly. The Federal Trade Commission dictates that every preparation should include the following information, among other details:

Also on the prescription, you may find the letters “OS” (oculus sinister), referring to the left eye and “OD” (oculus dexter), for the right eye. There are numbers under each category. Generally, the higher those numbers are, the stronger the prescription. A plus sign dictates you are farsighted while a minus symbol means nearsighted.

Other terms you may see on the prescription include:

When you wear your lenses, you may need to keep an eye out for possible infections. Keratitis is the most common infection of the cornea that can stem from contacts, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO)[2]Eye Infections From Contact Lenses. American Academy of Ophthalmology. Accessed 8/1/22. . In some cases, the cornea can become scarred and cause further vision problems. Try to avoid the following actions to reduce your chance of infection.

If you haven’t seen your eye doctor in awhile, you’ll need to before buying contacts, notes the FDA. Those who’ve gone between one and two years without an eye exam could potentially have problems they aren’t aware of, and that may not be solved with contact lenses.

Information provided on Forbes Health is for educational purposes only. Your health and wellness is unique to you, and the products and services we review may not be right for your circumstances. We do not offer individual medical advice, diagnosis or treatment plans. For personal advice, please consult with a medical professional.

Forbes Health adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved or otherwise endorsed by our advertisers.

Shawn is a dedicated news person who's produced content for print and online. He's worked in reporting, writing and editing roles across newsrooms like CNBC and Fox Digital, but he kicked off his career reporting on health for Healio.com. When Shawn isn't doing the news, he's probably deleting app notifications from his phone.

Jessica is a writer and editor with over a decade of experience in both lifestyle and clinical health topics. Before Forbes Health, Jessica was an editor for Healthline Media, WW and PopSugar, as well as numerous health-related startups. When she isn't writing or editing, Jessica can be found at the gym, listening to a health or true prime podcast, or spending time outside. She also really enjoys bread (even though she's not supposed to eat it).