Five patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) with probable autosomal recessive inheritance have been identified in whom there is relative preservation of retinal pigment epithelium adjacent to and under retinal arterioles despite a panretinal degenerative process. All the patients were hypermetropic, though patients with RP tend to be myopic. This implies that there is a factor associated with retinal arterioles which locally retards the RP process in these patients. It may be appropriate to look for the PPRPE pattern in hypermetropic RP patients.