Contacts are regulated like drugs, so, yeah. But there is no such restriction on eyeglasses (in the U.S.). Depending on the state, they do "expire" (in FL it's 5 years), but you can still use it[0]. I have bought some beaters from Zenni and made the Rx up myself (I used to work in a lab a hundred years ago, so I can figure out how much more plus my readers need).

[0] Some places will reject it just because they don't want to deal with your complaints about a new pair not working. Other places will read what's on your current pair and match that. It really depends on who is making the glasses.

Not if you order them from the UK ;-)