OBJECTIVE: Endophthalmitis is the most severe infection following eye trauma (injury, surgery, injection, etc.). Medical costs and visual loss consequences are compared here. METHODS: A mailing announcing the creation of the National Endophtalmitis Survey was sent to all French ophthalmologists. A total of 424 replies were received and 346 (82%) were positive. A standardized anonymous questionnaire collected information on the operative conditions, endophthalmitis characteristics, treatments and clinical outcomes. The economic point of view was that of the French NHS and medical costs were extracted from the national Diagnosis Related Group database. Utility related to visual acuity loss was estimated from the literature (Brown). A €50,000/QALY threshold was used to assess cost-effective social value related to vision loss. A 5% discount rate was used. RESULTS: Information on 88 cases of endophthalmitis was collected. The mean age was 75.1 years and 44% were women. All patients were hospitalized, had bacteriological samples, and were treated with either systemic or intra-vitreal antibiotics. 25.3% had a vitrectomy. Complications were reported in 23.1% and most were mainly retinal detachments. 3 months after surgery, 29.4% of the eyes had a visual acuity (VA) less than 1/20 and in 57.4% VA was less than 5/10. The average endophthalmitis medical cost was €4,125. The loss in utility was 0.203 on average (baseline VA fixed at 8/10). With a life expectancy of 5 years, the average discounted social value of endophthalmitis vision loss was Euro 46,000. CONCLUSION: The social value attributable to vision loss subsequent to endophthalmitis is more than ten times higher than its medical cost.