[How to remove a nonmagnetic intraocular foreign body para plana?]

After several unhappy experiences, the author thinks that the conditions for a successful extraction of an intraocular foreign body are: a clear lens and a clear vitreous, a proper microscope with the slitlamp beam in the axis of the observation, a three-mirror contact lens in order to have a good view of the periphery, early surgery to avoid adherences and neovascularization, special forceps to grasp the foreign body, a good hemostasis and a subtotal removal of the vitreous. Failures are reported and their causes discussed.