Cheap contact lenses pose a real danger. Please beware.

Here's a press release from Illinois warning of the dangers;

Colored lenses purchased without proper examinations and fittings put thousands of Illinois customers at risk of scratches, infections and potential blindness.

...In addition to scratches from ill fitting lenses, another factor that makes this health threat so pressing is that bacteria build within the eye very rapidly. Some types of bacteria can cause permanent scarring within twenty hours of the outbreak, if left untreated. Additionally, students with irritated eyes have on occasion been misdiagnosed with pinkeye, an easily treated eye infection. However, contact lenses can cause eye ulcers which must be treated with strong antibiotic medicine. If left untreated, ulcers can cause partial or total irreversible blindness.

See the FDA page, released right after Halloween last year, with warnings about Contact Lens Safety

Priscilla Presley, age 62, is said to be one of the Hollywood victims of a plastic surgery scam whereby an unlicensed doctor injected her in 2003 with a low-grade silicon substance that he claimed was a new 'miracle drug' and much better than Botox.

Priscilla became famous as the child bride of Elvis Presley. She met him at age 14 and they lived together before marriage. They married just before her 22nd birthday and had their only child nine months later. They separated less than five years after the wedding but stayed good friends.

Reading her Wikipedia entry, it's apparent she is an accomplished and talented businesswoman. Here's a look at her early years with Elvis. Note her amazing skill with 1960's makeup;

And here she is now, as the oldest contestant in Dancing with the Stars;

See also Dr. Youn's (a celebrity plastic surgeon) analysis from two years ago; Priscilla Presley Before and After.

Miss Bimbo is an online virtual makeover game that's causing a lot of controversy. It was first released in France about a year ago and has 1.2 million members - mostly girls under the age of 16. Just a month ago the English version was released and over 220,000 girls have already signed up.

The goal is to "become the hottest, coolest most famous bimbo ever!" The game encourages girls to 'buy' virtual breast implants and weight loss pills.

Many parents are outraged. But here's a couple of comments from people reading about it at the Guardian;

Is this any different from boys games being all about shooting things, beating people up and being generally anti-social?

Children play at being adults. If adults are stupid enough to fixate on dieting, cosmetic surgery and celebrity body image, it is not surprising that children play at the same things. If you want to stop children playing disturbing games, you need to address the disturbing behavior of adults.

We don't know who's behind MissBimbo. It seems to be owned by a site called Games2Girls.com. Games2Girls is one of the top 900 sites worldwide (according to Alexa), with millions of unique visitors per month, but we were not able to find any information about the company. Anyone know anything?

Update: According to FOX News, Miss Bimbo site was set up by Nicholas Jacquart, a French entrepreneur. He moved to South London, recently and with a 30-year-old businessman called Chris Evans set up Ouza Ltd to promote Miss Bimbo in Britain. Ouza is an interesting choice for their company name.

According to Wikipedia, Ouza is 'a major leader of the fall from heaven in Christian mythology'. In the rabbinic tradition, Ouza is suspended between Heaven and Earth as punishment for having had carnal knowledge of mortal women. Ouza "is said to be constantly falling, with one eye shut and the other open, to see his plight and suffer the more. It is said that he now hangs, head down, and is the constellation of Orion."

Ouza must know they may be in for some serious parental wrath.