Silicone oil was introduced into ophthalmic surgery by Paul Cibis in the early 1960s in an attempt to treat giant retinal tears and cases where retinal detachment had failed to respond to conventional scleral buckling techniques. His understanding of the nature of vitreous pathology and how it related to complex retinal detachment laid the foundation for modern vitreoretinal surgery. Cibis's success with these problems, together with his rationale for separating membranes from the retina, led others to try their hand at learning his techniques. At the same time, much criticism was leveled at the concept of injecting what was regarded as a foreign material into the eye, as well as at the whole idea of operating within the vitreous cavity. Some of this was personal, some due to a lack of understanding of the underlying pathology, and some due to disappointment following surgical failure.