Quality of life was measured by means of the sickness impact profile (SIP) questionnaire in a prospectively collected, consecutive series of 25 patients with perimesencephalic haemorrhage. A mean of two years and four months (range six months to six years) after the perimesencephalic haemorrhage, quality of life scores of the (former) patients were comparable with those of a random sample from the Dutch population. For physical aspects the patients showed even less dysfunction than controls. It is concluded that a perimesencephalic haemorrhage does not reduce quality of life or capacity to work.