Introduction: Dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) is indicated in nasolacrimal obstructions. It creates a new pathway for tears drainage to the nasal cavity and can be performed by external or endonasal approach. Objective: To retrospectively evaluate complications of DCR perfomed in our institution. Material and method: We reviewed medicai records of 496 patients (556 eyes) who underwent surgery between January 1986 and April 2001. Among these, 550 were by external approach and 6 by endonasal approach. The rate of complications was 10% (all in external approach), including 6 cases of bleeding (1%), 5 necrosis in the incision (1%), 5 orbital hematomas (1%), 27 improper position of the stent (5%), and 28 nasal synechias (5%). There was epiphora recurrence in 55 cases (10%), all of external approach. Conclusion: The DCR is a procedure with low rate of complications and of great efficacy for correction of chronic nasolacrimal pathways obstruction.