•Proliferative vitreoretinopathy is an anomalous scarring process that appears with some retinal detachment and is the most common cause of failure of surgery for rhegmatogenous retinal detachments. It leads to 5% -10% failure rates even in the experienced hands.•The aim of the present clinical study is to report on the outcome of the patients who received an intravitreal injection of crystalline cortisone in combination with pars plana vitrectomy as treatment for proliferative vitreoretinopathy.•Forty patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment complicated with PVR grade CP1 – CP 11 according to Machemer and associates classification, (1991), with or without previous scleral buckling surgery, were enrolled in the study.•Intraocular pressure at the end of 1st postoperative week and the primary retinal re-attachment rate did not vary significantly between the study group and the control group.• The current study has shown that intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide is safe and non toxic; it also reduces the post-operative intraocular inflammation. This adjunctive treatment may also minimize the incidence of recurrence of retinal detachment with reduction in the failure rate due to reduced incidence of PVR.