Eight of 31 schizophrenic patients to whom prolonged use of phenothiazine derivatives has meant the difference between multiple hospitalizations and "deterioration" and good adjustment with relative self-sufficiency outside the hospital have developed lenticular opacities after three to nine years of therapy. In contrast with other reports linking this type of lesion to chlorpromazine usage, this study indicates that it may be induced by trifluoperazine hydrochloride, or may be cumulative and a potential property of any phenothiazine derivative. In considering the therapeutic implications of these findings it must be stressed that the lesions described in this report are minimal and asymptomatic, and that the as yet unassessed hazard of further progression leading to cataract formation with continuation of treatment must be weighed against the almost certain dismal prognosis for such patients if phenothiazine therapy is abandoned.