We analyzed retrospectively 45 patients who had received silicone oil injection for vitreoretinal problems and divided them into three groups: aphakic patients who had undergone an extracapsular cataract extraction (AEC), aphakic patients who had undergone an intracapsular cataract extraction (AIC) and phakic patients (PHA). Patients were followed up from 4 to 13 months (average: 8.5 months). Irreversible silicone keratopathy was found in 50% of the eyes in the AIC group between 4 and 8 weeks postoperatively. An intact lens or capsule correlated well with the absence of this complication. In phakic eyes, secondary cataract was the most prominent early complication, developing by the end of the eighth week in 60% of eyes. Other early complications were inflammatory surface silicone membranes, rubeosis, iritis, glaucoma and capsular opacification.