[Sympathetic ophthalmia and microsurgery of the posterior segment]

Clinical, angiographic and histologic findings in a case of sympathetic ophthalmia are reported. There was a time interval of two years between injury and onset of symptoms of sympathetic ophthalmia. The incidence of sympathetic ophthalmia after posterior segment surgery is discussed. The risk is low (0.01 p. cent) when vitrectomy is performed in the absence of ocular wounds, but increases for complex and repeated surgical procedures (0.16 p. cent).