Thanks guys, I will indeed check out the links you offered. One of the farm service companies here is advertising a Bausch & Lomb 20x for something like 18.00 and from some of the few prices I have seen so far this might be a nice deal. Cathy, I just had a mental vision of myself with those over-the-head lenses on...maybe that's a cheaper cure for my astigmatism?? At least then I could pluck my own eyebrows a bit more efficiently!

This "fad" gives me the chills. Does your GD wear contact lenses normally? There are a lot of Web sites that sell these things, and the ones that I just looked at require a prescription to get these (and prescriptions for glasses are not the same thing as a prescription for contact lenses). When people wear different-colored contacts to change their eye color, they are getting them through their doctor's prescription. Legit Web companies will not sell without a copy of a prescription, period. (I have an ophthalmologist in the family.) Check out Lens.com (just the first site I hit on) for some FAQs about these things. Contact lenses of any type need to fit the individual's eye -- there are all sorts of variations that only a trained professional can measure. And no offense to opticians -- I'll let them order my glasses, but only with a prescription from an ophthalmologist. And if I had kids, no way would I walk into an optician's at the local mall and buy this stuff, which is what it sounds like happened. If they were purchased from one of those Halloween costume stores that pop up during this season, I would be even more worried. (The fad lenses seem to cost under $30.) Mona: Do you know which mall they went to? If I were in your shoes, I'd go do a little in-person research. I'd want to know if there is SOME eye doctor on the premises and whether the specific lenses it sells are FDA-approved, and that's just for starters. But the bottom line for me is that I would never jeopardize a child's eyesight by buying her something that I have not researched thoroughly and gotten my ophthalmologist's approval for. A $30 fad for a few hours of fun is not worth the possible issues.

I wear Acuvue Oasys & bought mine from lens.com. I did a lot of comparison shopping on line & their's was the best price. My eye dr. told me that if I could find them for (I think it was) less than $25/box that was cheaper than his price & to go for it. He said the product is the same where ever you buy it, so no concerns that you're getting inferior quality. Also recommend that you google for a coupon... it may get you free shipping or $'s off. That's what helped get the price down for me. It's been several months ago, but I think I paid $19.99/box, but I can't swear to that. I faxed them the Rx & it all went quite smoothly.

my sister and I both have very bad astigmatism along with our very high myopia, I have not had surgery yet but she has. She had been using the mini mono with her contact lenses so they went with that in her surgery and she absolutely hates it, so much so that if she had the money she would want it changed. But she is stuck with it. She said it is not at all like it was with her contacts which she was fine with. I personally won't go that route either since I never had contacts like that either I know it would be bad for me to try to adjust too. Some people have very good results with it, which is great. What ever you decide on hope you have a very successful surgery.