BACKGROUND: It is important to control the intraocular pressure (IOP) during ophthalmic surgery. The precise control of IOP is an accepted advantage of general anesthesia. METHODS: The authors have compared IOP, blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) with the insertion of laryngeal mask airway (LMA) or endotracheal tube (TI) during the induction of propofol. All data were recorded in the operating room upon arrival (Phase 1), just before the LMA or TI (Phase 2), immediately after (Phase 3), and 1 minute (Phase 4) and 3 minutes (Phase 5) after the LMA or TI. RESULTS: The IOP with the LMA was significantly lower at Phase 3 and Phase 4 than that with the TI. The changes of the IOP during Phases 2, 3, 4 and 5 was insignificant in LMA but significant in TI. The BP with LMA was significantly lower at Phases 3, 4 and 5 but the difference in HR was not significant between LMA and TI. CONCLUSION: The LMA offers advantages over TI for ophthalmic surgery in respect to the changes in IOP, BP and HR during the induction of propofol.