Corrected vision issues... Should I avoid Surgery?

[Fluidity of Movement]

Hello friends, premed here.

I haven't been able to find any information on corrected vision standards that may apply to various specialties / general surgery.

As of now I have roughly 20/25 corrected vision with scleral lenses, but after a period of time I have to refill them with solution in order to maintain maximum clarity. I'm still dialing things in with my specialist hopefully one day I can have 20/20 (or close to it) for 8+ hours, but that is not now.

I'd never really considered Surgery of any kind, but the thought has been popping up more lately as I get closer to my application cycle and school list... so I'm looking for any information or guidance that I can get.

Thank you all

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Smurfette]

Hello friends, premed here.

I haven't been able to find any information on corrected vision standards that may apply to various specialties / general surgery.

As of now I have roughly 20/25 corrected vision with scleral lenses, but after a period of time I have to refill them with solution in order to maintain maximum clarity. I'm still dialing things in with my specialist hopefully one day I can have 20/20 (or close to it) for 8+ hours, but that is not now.

I'd never really considered Surgery of any kind, but the thought has been popping up more lately as I get closer to my application cycle and school list... so I'm looking for any information or guidance that I can get.

Thank you all

You have to see to do the operation, but there is no vision test required to be a surgeon per se. 20/25 vision is not significantly different enough from 20/20 to disqualify you.
You can wear cheaters, loupes (magnifying lenses) and stuff if you need to in surgery as well.
Most surgeries are much shorter in length than 8 hrs and you have time between cases to do other (fairly quick) things.
Given you are still pre-med, you have years to see how your vision is before having to decide what specialty to pursue. You may not even end up liking surgery...

 

[HighPriest]

Plus you’re usually not operating from 20 feet away. The discrepancy should be less relevant at arms length.

 

[longhaul3]

Most surgeons I know, including myself, wear glasses.

We also operate with either loupes or our pride and joy, the microscope, in almost every case.

 

[LucidSplash]

I just had to upgrade my contacts to the kind for astigmatism. My loupes are designed for my corrected vision so I don’t have to change them.

Still operating!

 

[HighPriest]

Besides, at some point you have to try operating blindfolded. It’s the only way to prove you’re a great surgeon and not just a fraud.

 

[TypeADissection]

I just had to upgrade my contacts to the kind for astigmatism. My loupes are designed for my corrected vision so I don’t have to change them.

Still operating!

Since I wear contacts ~99% of the time when I was in training, my loupes are tailored towards me having decent vision. After becoming an attending and having 1.5 clinic days, and being in the frozen tundra of the midwest where it gets crazy dry in the winter; I wear glasses on my clinic days but still leave a pair of contacts in the office in case I'm on call and get a page from cath lab. I did discuss the idea of corrective surgery that would require something extensive and decided nah since glasses/contacts don't bother me that much.

 

[Severus21]

I wear glasses for day to day use for distance. In the OR anywhere between 2.5-4.5x loupes for baby arteries. As long as you can see the field clearly it really doesn’t matter.

 

[Doc320]

Besides, at some point you have to try operating blindfolded. It’s the only way to prove you’re a great surgeon and not just a fraud.

That's called braille surgery.

 

[Terrainport]

i started wearing contacts first year of gen surg residency. i have thought about corrective surgery but worried about taking the plunge

 

[dienekes88]

You have to see to do the operation, but there is no vision test required to be a surgeon per se. 20/25 vision is not significantly different enough from 20/20 to disqualify you.
You can wear cheaters, loupes (magnifying lenses) and stuff if you need to in surgery as well.
Most surgeries are much shorter in length than 8 hrs and you have time between cases to do other (fairly quick) things.
Given you are still pre-med, you have years to see how your vision is before having to decide what specialty to pursue. You may not even end up liking surgery...

Yeah. Vision varies greatly. I know people who do coronary surgery with regular glasses and others who wear 4.0 loupes.

I mostly wear 2.5s and sometimes 3.5s.

 

[dpmd]

I had lasik 25 yrs ago and some astigmatism and mild myopia has come back so I am about 20/40 uncorrected and don't bother correcting it most of the time. Have no issue operating. Some of my colleagues have to have the camera get really close to where they are working in laparoscopy so their vision must be even worse (or they don't bring the screen close enough) and they still do fine.