Hi --just a short question about a glaucoma subspecialist's lifestyle. Is it 9-to-5 as comprehensive ophthalmologists' are? Could one work part-time if desired? Since angle-closure glaucomas are an emergency, does that make the call worse for glaucoma specialists vs. a general ophtho's?
Thanks!
Glaucoma subspecialists generally don't get called for narrow-angle problems, including acute angle closure attacks. Any decent general ophthalmologist can handle those.
You won't see referrals much for those problems either. Glaucoma subspecialists get referrals for complicated glaucoma patients, failed or failing filtration surgery, setons, transscleral laser procedures, novel filtration procedures, and second opinions. In areas where the generalists are swamped and don't want to deal with any trabeculectomies, you might get referrals as long as you are reasonably available.
As for emergencies, perhaps you might get called for the rare aqueous misdirection (which usually is not emergent), Complications of glaucoma procedures most often are the domain of retina specialists (endophthalmitis, choroidal hemorrhages, etc.)
Unless you are practicing in an academic center with a resident on call, you will probably have some affiliation with a hospital as a basis for your credentialing to do outpatient surgery at a surgery center. That hospital staff membership will likely obligate you to participate on the emergency room call schedule, and in that capacity you could be called to deal with almost any kind of ocular emergency, at least initially.
