Five patients exhibited the association of nanophthalmos and uveal effusion, apparently on a familial basis. Glaucoma, occurring in the fourth to sixth decades of life, required surgical intervention that was followed by the development of secondary retinal and choroidal detachment. Recognition of this syndrome is important because: (1) surgical procedures for glaucoma should be avoided, if possible, in order to prevent the development of uveal effusion; (2) retinal detachment surgical procedures are ineffective in uveal effusion and should be avoided, and (3) choroidal elevation occurring in the uveal effusion phase may be erroneously diagnosed as an intraocular tumor and unnecessary enucleation may follow.