Blind in one eye

[alakipalaki]

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But have a perfect vision in the other eye. This problem has not affected me depth perception at all.

My question is what specialties won't I be able to pursue? I'm mainly interested in interventional medicine such interventional cardiology and radiology.

Thank you for your input.

 

[colbgw02]

Serious question: how do you know it hasn't affected your depth perception? I mean, most people don't realize how poor their vision is until it's corrected.

I've known one monocular radiologist and heard of a few more who apparently do okay for themselves. I've also heard of some who unexpectedly lost vision in one eye as an adult and had to medically retire. So I suppose it depends on the specifics of the situation. Not really sure how it might affect a proceduralist, as these people were more on the diagnostic side of things.

 

[Law2Doc]

Agree with colbgw02. Depth perception generally requires subconscious calculation based on having two eyes on different sides of your head looking at objects from slightly different angles. If you only have vision in one, it's doubtful you have much in the way of depth perception. Your brain may be very good at estimating based on known sizes and speeds of objects but a one eyed center fielder is going to miss most of the high fly balls hit his way.

That being said, as long as you have one good eye you can probably do fine at most medical specialties. All imaging thus far is looked at in 2D -- the days of 3D holograms are still a few eons off. You might want to stay away from diagnostic radiology or pathology, where eye strain from staring at images/slides is going to impact you twice as fast because you can't alternate eyes when you get tired (and thus the residency training leading up to IR or interventional cards (echos) might be harder for you than others). But I would think once you got past that the more interventional fields would probably be doable. Once a catheter is inside a patient, you are looking at it on a 2D screen anyhow.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Moving to Pre Allo as the OP is not a resident; posted In multiple forums.

 

[ciestar]

I have esotropia, so I still have full vision in both eyes but I literally have no depth perception at all.

 

[KHE]

I have esotropia, so I still have full vision in both eyes but I literally have no depth perception at all.

That's not true.

Your brain uses many different clues to perceive depth. People who have a glass eye have depth perception.

You are thinking of stereopsis.

 

[AspiringERMD]

I know for a fact that medical schools have taken deaf students, so it shouldn't be a dealbreaker to get in, and you can probably discover in 3rd and 4th year some of the things you can and cannot do (not to mention, you'll have access to people who can help you figure it out all four years).

Frankly, I think you should be fine for most specialties. I also used to babysit for an ER doctor who was fully colorblind.

 

[ciestar]

That's not true.

Your brain uses many different clues to perceive depth. People who have a glass eye have depth perception.

You are thinking of stereopsis.

Fine. I have really poor depth perception..is that better?

 

[alakipalaki]

Thanks everybody. I do have a normal depth perception. How do I know? That is how I feel and that is what my doctor has told me. But the real question is what specialties besides ophthalmology are out of question for me?

Thank you!

 

[kyamh]

Thanks everybody. I do have a normal depth perception. How do I know? That is how I feel and that is what my doctor has told me. But the real question is what specialties besides ophthalmology are out of question for me?

Thank you!

Does it matter at this point? Would someone telling you that you couldn't be a vascular surgeon etc change your decision as far as whether to enter medicine? While I understand you are curious (and frankly I don't know the answer to your question), it is far more productive to focus on getting in to medical school. Once you start, you're bound to change your mind lots of times over about your specialty. Chances are, your vision deficit (which you do have, however slight) is unlikely to get in the way. In fact, given the fact that you are used to navigating the world without stereopsis cues, you may find laparoscopic procedures particularly straightforward to learn 🙂

Edit: "Normal" is a range, you have likely learned to use other (motion, shading etc) cues to judge depth to compensate for lacking stereopsis. Many people with average vision who close one eye can pass the stereopsis test too - you just won't be able to train yourself to become better at judging depth past a certain threshold. Not saying you will necessarily be worse than others, but you will be worse that you personally could have been with average vision.

 

[Avicenna]

H

Serious question: how do you know it hasn't affected your depth perception? I mean, most people don't realize how poor their vision is until it's corrected.

I've known one monocular radiologist and heard of a few more who apparently do okay for themselves. I've also heard of some who unexpectedly lost vision in one eye as an adult and had to medically retire. So I suppose it depends on the specifics of the situation. Not really sure how it might affect a proceduralist, as these people were more on the diagnostic side of things.

w do you unexpectedly lose vision? Retinopathy? Macular degeneration? Age related Presbyopia?

 

[colbgw02]

H

w do you unexpectedly lose vision? Retinopathy? Macular degeneration? Age related Presbyopia?

Well, there are many reasons, but in the case I referred to it was trauma.

 

[Avicenna]

Well, there are many reasons, but in the case I referred to it was trauma.

Schizophrenia, blindness, and Alzheimer's are three of my biggest med related fears. Loss of perception of reality seems terrifying.