CONTACT:

Norris Battin
The Cooper Companies, Inc.
E-mail: nbattin@use.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                  COOPER COMPLETES SALE OF MEADOWWOOD HOSPITAL

IRVINE, Calif., January 20, 1999 - The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE/PCX:COO)
today announced that it has completed the sale of the MeadowWood Hospital
property of its Hospital Group of America business unit (HGA) to Focus
Healthcare. Cooper netted approximately $5.0 million in cash and trade
receivables.

In October 1998, Cooper declared HGA a discontinued operation.

The Cooper Companies, Inc. and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market
specialty healthcare products. Corporate offices are located in Irvine and
Pleasanton, Calif. CooperVision, Inc. markets a broad range of contact lenses
for the vision care market. It is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with
manufacturing facilities in Huntington Beach, Calif., Rochester, N.Y., Toronto,
Canada and Hampshire, England. CooperSurgical, Inc., headquartered in Shelton,
Conn., markets diagnostic products and surgical instruments, equipment and
accessories for the women's healthcare market.