One hundred and twenty-four eyes with a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, considered to be at high risk of failure if treated conventionally, underwent vitrectomy and internal tamponade, with or without scleral buckling, as the primary procedure. The retina was reattached in 64.5% of eyes after one operation, 75.0% after two, and in 83% of eyes after more than two operations, with no difference in the success rate between those eyes which underwent vitrectomy alone, and those that received adjunctive scleral buckling; duration of surgery was significantly shorter, however, in the former group. Twenty percent of eyes redetached in association with proliferative vitreoretinopathy, and 20% of phakic eyes developed posterior subcapsular lens opacities after surgery. Vitrectomy is now an established method in the management of selected cases of rhegmatogenous retinal detachments.