For most people who wear prescription eyeglasses or contact lens, it’s an annual or biannual ritual: a trip to “the eye doctor” — usually an optometrist — for an exam and an updated prescription. Nearly 114 million adults, including 65% of eyeglass wearers and 82% of contact lens users, got an eye exam in 2015, according to the Vision Council, an industry group.
But just as surely as Uber upended the taxi industry and Amazon changed book-buying habits, there’s now a company hoping to turn vision testing into an online routine requiring nothing but a computer and a smartphone. Opternative, based in Chicago, has been offering free exams through its website since July 2015. About 40,000 people in 32 states have taken the tests, says CEO and co-founder Aaron Dallek.
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