Twenty eyes of 20 patients who had undergone successful retinal detachment repair by means of microsurgery had cystoid macular edema (CME) disclosed by fluorescein angiography 10-12 weeks postoperatively. Clinical evaluation war repeated at 6-month intervals for a period of 12-30 months. Sixteen eyes were followed for at least 18 months. CME spontaneously cleared or dramatically decreased in 12 of the 16 eyes (75%), which were followed for at least 18 months. CME had spontaneously cleared in 50% of the eyes by the end of 1 year after surgery. For those eyes with transient CME, the mean visual acuity improved from 0.3 at 3 months postoperatively to 0.6 at the end of the follow-up period. The final visual acuity was 0.4 or better in 83.3% of the eyes with transient CME. None of the eyes with persistent CME developed premacular fibrosis or cystoid macular degeneration during the follow-up period. No prognostic factor for angiographic CME after repair of retinal detachment could be determined in the present series of patients.