The incidence of retinal detachment after prophylactic treatment is between 1 and 14%. In a series of 701 eyes treated prophylactically with photocoagulation or cryopexy (with and without scleral buckling), incidence of retinal detachment was 4.7%. The incidence of new break formation was 8.0%; in 26 eyes, new breaks were responsible for the subsequent formation of retinal detachment; in seven eyes, retinal detachment resulted from inadequate reaction around the treated retinal break. Twenty eyes suffered a deterioration of visual acuity of two or more lines after treatment. The incidence of complications after photocoagulation was higher than after cryopexy, although there was no significant difference in the efficacy between the two methods.