StripSlashes() & quotes in text boxes

Hi, I have had a few problems retrieving MySql entries that contain quote marks. Slashes have been added before storing an item description such as: 17" SVGA Monitor. They've been removed before display too - and the description appears correctly on a page except when displaying in a text box (for an administrator to edit the item description. When displayed in a text box the description just shows 17. The only solution I can find is to swap the quote marks for " when storing the item initially and when any update has been submitted by the user. Is this the best way, and are there any other characters waiting to cause the same problem that I don't know about yet? Thanks, Robert MacCombe