Objective To investigate the degree of retinal developmen t in pret erm infants and compare the electroretinograms between preterm and fullterm in fants. Methods Flash electroretinogram (ERG) were obtained wit h contact lens el ectrodes in one eye from ten preterm infants (10 eyes) and twenty full-term inf a nts (20 eyes) in seven days after birth. The rod cell, cone cell, maximal combi nation, oscillatory potentials, and 30 Hz flicker responses were recorded. Results Compared with the full-term infants, the implicit time of rod cell respon s e (t=3.216，P=0.003) was longer and the amplitudes were lower (t=6.0 50，P=0.000) in the preterm infants; the difference of implicit time of maximal response was not significant (t=0.465，P=0.650; t=1.068，P=0.295), while th e amplitudes dec reased (t=6.584, P=0.000; t=6.649, P=0.000). The a- and b-wav e implicit time of cone response was not differed much between the two groups (t=0.077, P=0.939; t=0.935,P=0.358); the amplitudes was obvious lower in preterm group (t =3 .417，P=0.002；t=6.310，P=0.000); the difference of implicit t ime of 30 Hz flic ker betw een the two groups was not significant (t=3.745，P=0.001). The difference of b/a value of maximal combination response was not obvious between the two groups ( t=0.215, P=0.831). Conclusions The development of retinal function is slower in preterm infants than that in full-term ones．