If you’ve ever found yourself tilting the bottle, hoping for one more drop of your glaucoma medication before your next refill date, you’re not alone. Many people living with glaucoma face this challenge, often through no fault of their own. Drops can miss the eye, spill, or run out faster than expected, yet strict pharmacy refill rules can leave patients without their sight-saving medication.

That’s why early refill laws exist and why more states are taking action to protect patients like you. These laws allow pharmacists to refill prescribed eye drops sooner than the insurance company’s standard schedule, helping ensure continuity of care and preventing gaps in treatment that can raise eye pressure.

Where Early Eye Drop Refill Laws Stand

As of October 2025, more than 30 states have enacted early eye drop refill laws, shown in the AAO’s national map.

These laws allow you to refill your prescription early, typically after about 70–75% of your previous supply is gone, so you don’t have to wait until the exact end of your refill window. States like California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania are among those offering these protections.

However, not every state has adopted this policy yet. That means, depending on where you live, your access to early refills may still depend on your pharmacy’s discretion or your insurer’s rules.

You can check the latest map and state-by-state details on the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Early Refill page (AAO.org/advocacy/eyedrop-refills) and audio explainer (AAO.org/education/audio/state-law-early-eye-drop-refills).

Why It Matters

Eye drops aren’t like pills; you don’t always get the same amount each time. For many people living with glaucoma, a portion of each bottle is lost simply because eye drops are hard to administer accurately. Vision changes, limited hand mobility, arthritis, tremors, or even the angle of the bottle can cause drops to spill down your cheek rather than into your eye. Over time, these small losses add up and can shorten your supply by several days.

Running out early isn’t just inconvenient; it can be dangerous. Missing doses can lead to eye pressure spikes, which raise the risk of glaucoma progression. That’s why early refill laws are so important: they help ensure you’re never forced to go without your medication simply because of unavoidable waste.

To help reduce spillage and get the most out of each bottle, Prevent Blindness created an excellent step-by-step video that demonstrates proper technique for administering eye drops safely and effectively. 

Improving technique can make your drops last longer, but even with perfect technique, some waste is normal and expected. Early refill protections ensure these unavoidable challenges don’t jeopardize your vision.

What You Can Do

1. Ask your pharmacist or doctor

• Ask whether your state allows early refills for glaucoma drops.
• If it does, let your pharmacy know that your medication is eligible. Sometimes pharmacists aren’t aware of the specific state law.
• If your insurance denies an early refill, your ophthalmologist can often advocate or provide documentation explaining medical necessity.

2. Talk to your eye doctor

Your ophthalmologist can write your prescription in a way that supports continuity of care, for example, specifying “early refill permitted” or noting that medication loss due to spillage is expected.

3. Get involved in advocacy

If your state hasn’t passed early refill laws yet, you can help. The Prevent Blindness Advocacy Network offers simple tools to contact your local representatives and share your story. Visit advocacy.preventblindness.org to learn how to speak up for patients’ rights in your state.

Key Takeaways

• Early refill laws protect glaucoma patients from running out of medication before refill eligibility.
• Over 30 states have enacted laws as of 2025.
• Ask your pharmacist or ophthalmologist about your state’s rules.
• Advocate for expanded access through Prevent Blindness and AAO campaigns.

Resources

• AAO: Early Eye Drop Refill Advocacy Page: https://www.aao.org/advocacy/eyedrop-refills
• AAO Audio: State Law and Early Eye Drop Refills: https://www.aao.org/education/audio/state-law-early-eye-drop-refills
• Prevent Blindness Advocacy Toolkit: https://advocacy.preventblindness.org/vision-advocacy-101/

To ensure that we always provide you with high-quality, reliable information, The Glaucoma Community closely vets all sources. We do not, however, endorse or recommend any specific providers, treatments, or products, and the use of a given source does not imply an endorsement of any provider, treatment, medication, procedure, or device discussed within.