Sixty consecutive patients with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) were prospectively studied by means of indirect funduscopy to address the question of incidence and prognostic implications of Terson's syndrome (TS) after SAH. Terson's syndrome was diagnosed in 10 (16.7%) of 60 patients and was associated with subarachnoid rebleeding in seven of 10. No correlation was found between anatomical localization of the ruptured aneurysm and TS laterality. Case fatality was nine (90%) of 10 in patients with TS compared to five (10%) of 50 in non-TS patients. It is concluded that TS is not infrequent (16.7%) in spontaneous SAH and has a poor prognosis, often heralding subarachnoid rebleeding.