Color Blind Eye Surgeon

[stanka]

Hi!
I'm a third year med student and am considering ophtho. Yet, sad to say, my vision is not perfect. I have red-green color blindness.
Now, I was wondering if that precludes me from obtaining an ophtho residency position. And if so, why?
Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[bmk579]

I think it might make it slightly difficult, because sometimes subtle color differences may help you, especially when examining the retina. That being said, however, one of my co-residents was color blind and he did fine (he didn't go into retina). The only thing he used to complain about was when people used red laser pointers during presentations, he couldn't see the pointer.

I do remember a few programs when I was applying did either ask for a doctor's eye exam, or one even tested us on the day of the interview for color vision and stereopsis. Not sure how common that is.

 

[Mirror Form]

The program I trained at actually rejected one candidate as soon as they found out the person was color blind. Other than that I don't have too much experience on the matter.

 

[CastroViejo]

med college of wisconsin used to test VA, stereopsis, and color, but this year they stopped testing for color vision. I suppose this could mean that they no longer think color is that important, at least not as much as stereopsis (which is also arguably not required to be a sucessful ophth...there is another thread about this topic). Also, I know of at least one successful ophthalmologist who is color blind.

 

[thackl]

I'm red/green deficient. I feel like early on it makes a difference when doing retina exams (is it a fresh bleed or something else?), then the retina guys always show me a different way to figure things out. Depth, shape, clinical history, etc will give you other clues. Other than this, I don't feel held back by my color blindness.

 

[rjp202]

I'm deuteranomalous (decreased green sensitivity, 5% of males) and finished residency last June. It wasn't a major issue, but early on I did have some difficulty detecting blood (NVA, NVI on brown irides, retinal hemorrahges) and couldn't use color plates I wasn't familiar with. I didn't find it a hindrance during anterior segment surgery, but could see where it could potentially make retinal surgery more difficult. It may have factored in my decision to go into plastics, but overall wasn't a huge problem during residency. good luck!

 

[eye dude]

so would it be possible to be a retina suregon with red green color deficiency ??