Contact lenses in Korea: prescriptions and colored lenses

한국에서 콘택트렌즈: 처방, 컬러렌즈, 매장 구매

In Korea, contact lenses are sold by opticians (안경사) in optical shops, and that includes colored lenses that don't correct your sight. Korea's optician rules require a doctor's prescription only for lenses for children aged 6 and under, so adults can buy without one, and contact lenses may not be sold online or by mail order.

Reviewed 2026-10-02 · Written from the public sources listed below

Where you can buy them

Korea's Act on Medical Technologists (의료기사 등에 관한 법률) defines an optician's work as making up and selling prescription glasses and selling contact lenses, including lenses that are not for correcting vision (Article 1-2). Opticians must sell glasses and contact lenses only in an optical shop (Article 12(6)), and nobody may sell them through online shopping, mail order or purchase-and-delivery agents (Article 12(5)).

So plan to buy lenses in person. If you can, bring the box or a note of the lenses you wear now: brand, power, base curve and diameter.

Prescriptions

Under the Act's Enforcement Decree (Annex 1), selling contact lenses is part of an optician's work, and only lenses for a child aged 6 or under must be sold on a doctor's prescription. To set the power, the optician may do a refraction test that uses no eye drops, including an automatic refractor. That test only sets the lens power. It is not a medical check of your eyes.

Colored and circle lenses

Colored and circle lenses follow the same rules as other contact lenses: an optician sells them in an optical shop, not online, and the under-6 prescription rule applies to them too.

Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety lists contact lenses as medical devices: lenses worn only while you are awake (daily-wear) are Class 2, and lenses worn overnight (extended-wear) are Class 3.

What the shop must tell you

When an optician sells you contact lenses, the law says they must tell you how to use them, their expiry date and possible side effects (Article 12(7)). Ask how many hours a day you can wear them and when to replace them.

If a lens hurts or your eye turns red, take the lens out and go to an eye clinic (안과).

How we list opticians

Our optician list marks shops that say they sell contact lenses or colored lenses, with the date we checked. It is information only: we have no partnership, coupon or commission with any shop.