In a retrospective study of 1180 consecutive eyes operated for retinal detachment, vitreous traction on the rent was the determining factor for the development of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). Round, multiple, small holes in equatorial degeneration (retinogenic) and macular holes in which no vitreous traction on the rent was found did not complicate with PVR. Retinal detachment caused by horseshoe or crescent-shaped tears with evidence of vitreous traction (vitreogenic) developed PVR to a variable degree: in 171 (25.8%) senile myopic, 19 (44.2%) senile-myopic aphakic, 23 (20.2%) typical aphakic, and 32 (78.1%) patients with giant tears. We also found that retinogenic retinal detachments affected younger age groups more than did vitreogenic retinal detachments.