General Surgery to Ophtho?

[SamuelAdams]

Hey,

I'm a general surgery categorical intern at a good program. In late 3rd year of medical school I became interested in ophtho and I did some elective work. I had always been intent on going into general surgery, but I became extremely interested in ophthalmology. I really liked the field, and I even registered for the match. In the end, I chose to apply to general surgery for a variety of reasons: one was that I felt it was what I really wanted to do, and the other was that it was a safer bet since I did a couples' match. Now that I'm into my internship and I see GS and live GS, I am starting to think that I may have made a mistake. When I did my ENT rotation as an intern we did a fair bit of work with an oculoplastics guy and I realized that I really probably made a mistake.

Now I want to know how I can make the switch. The intricacies are obviously time constraints, difficulty of matching into ophtho in general, and getting the proper letters and experience to make me a competitive applicant while still being a general surgery intern.

Does anyone have any comments on this dilemma? I am luckily located in a city with 5 ophtho programs, and I basically need to stay in this city because my wife is a medicine intern here.

I need your help/advice! Thanks in advance

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[rubensan]

check into the open position at Duke. get things going tonight. keep checking the vacancies that come up on sf match. yes, a few interns destined for ophtho next year will decide that they made a mistake too and that IM or gsurg or ortho is really their calling...or maybe a coveted derm spot will open up that sounds more appealing. as an intern in the ccu, i currently work with a cards fellow who finished a year of ophtho and then decided cards was his calling. so yes, even the jules steins and dohenys loose people from time to time, spots open up and you have to be in the right place at the right time. try reconnecting with this plastics guy. open spots fill quickly and get filled many times by word of mouth and telephone calls from the "right" people. life is not just about one chance or one residency or one decision, if ophtho is what you REALLY want, you will make it happen.

Good luck!

a cold pint of sam adams sounds pretty good right now!