One hundred and sixty-six eyes of 165 patients with foreign bodies in the anterior chamber who were treated at our center from 1966 to 1988 were retrospectively reviewed. Among them there were 109 eyes with nonmetal foreign bodies, 55 eyes with metal foreign bodies and three eyes with foreign bodies of unknown nature. Most of these foreign bodies were stone or iron. 83.6% of the patients were in the age range from 7 to 40 years, and the left eyes were affected more than the right eyes. Mostly, the foreign bodies were located on the surface of iris (97 cases) and at the anterior chamber angle (40 cases). The rates of blindness were 27.8% and 16.3% before and after operation. The postoperative visual acuity were: 0.05-0.2 in 27 eyes, 0.3-0.9 in 66 eyes, greater than 1.0 in 43 eyes and the rest of the eyes lower than 0.05. The presurgery treatment such as miosis and reduction of intraocular pressure, the selection of operative methods according to the nature, size, location of the foreign bodies and tissue wrapped up were discussed. If combined procedures should be done, it is better to remove the foreign bodies first and then perform the operation for complications.