THE USE of controlled low temperatures in eye surgery has been one of the exciting developments of the last few years. Ophthalmic cryosurgery is so new that it is still finding its place in our armamentarium. We can only evaluate it today in the light of our experiences to date realizing full well that further studies will call for reassessment. Cryosurgery has gained an important place in the treatment of retinal detachments. An absolute essential for the cure of detachment has always been closure of the retinal tears. Many physical modalities have been used to this end; cryosurgery is one of them. Another essential has always been reapproximation of the detached retina, or at least the part containing the holes, with the underlying structure. Cryosurgery has played a part in modifying some of these approaches. Another factor in many surgical approaches to detachment has been removal of subretinal fluid—often a