The objective of this prospective study was to evaluate the intra- and postoperative pain in vitreoretinal surgery under retrobulbar anesthesia (RBA) in 53 patients, considering objective stress parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate and plasma concentration of cortisol (PCC). The level of pain was graded on a standard 4-point nominal scale. Mean pain score after RBA was 1.04, decreased perioperative to 0.77, and increased again with a maximum at 8 h postoperative to 1.15. The quality of RBA significantly correlated with the patient's pain during and at the end of surgery (P < 0.001). At the end of surgery (P < 0.001). At the end of surgery pain also correlated with the duration of surgery (P < 0.01). In 14 patients PCC was measured preoperatively. PCC decreased significantly after oral premedication with Lorazepam (18.4 to 12.6 micrograms/dl, P < 0.001). In the further course of surgery no significant differences in PCC could be detected in 26 patients. Pain during the operation correlated significantly with intraoperative (P = 0.01) and postoperative (P = 0.03) PCC. The objective stress parameters blood pressure and heart rate did not differ significantly during surgery. Of our patients, 77.4% decided that they would choose RBA again in case of ocular surgery.