I'm a 4th year student, and i'm finding myself in a kind of scary situation - it's almost mid August, and i'm still not sure if I want to do Ophtho as a career. I was debating between Ophtho and Derm. Overall, i think i was a bit more intellectually stimulated by ophtho and felt a somewhat greater satisfaction in treating eye disease vs. skin disease. However, the biggest thing holding me back is reports that i hear about Ophtho being a saturated job market, reports of unhappy ophthalmologists who are thinking about giving up surgery or even their career because of the low reimbursements (which is one of the things that attracts me to this field as a med student), and ophthalmologists having to go juggle multiple office locations. While i'm pretty clear to myself that i don't want to choose a field simply because of the money, at the same time i don't want to find myself feeling like i'm being jipped for my services after having spent 4 yrs of school + 4 plus years of training. I was wondering if someone could 1) give me some insight into my above concerns and 2) also address the discrepency in pay between ophthalmologists who just are fresh out of residency and those 2-3 years into practice and when/how long it takes to become a "partner".
indecision about ophth as a career
- Thread starter AZA1000
- Start date
If you're not passionate about ophtho, my advice is not to go into it. Some of the concerns about saturated markets and low starting salary are true. In addition, decreasing reimbursement, especially for cataracts is a very real possibility. If you're having 2nd thoughts now, you may be headed for trouble in the future. If money is an important factor to you, then go into derm. You will likely make more and there's more stability in reimbursement in derm because more of what you do is out-of-pocket.
Having said that ophthalmology is projected to be the #2 most needed specialty behind cardiology in the next 15-20 years because of the baby boomer factor. Anecdotally, starting salaries are beginning to rise already because of this. Furthermore, if you go into retina, or if you're hugely successful as a refractive surgeon, you'll likely make more than most dermatologists. But if your objective is to be able to go anywhere in the country and he highly recruited and be paid handsomely right from the get go, then derm is a much safer bet.
Having said that ophthalmology is projected to be the #2 most needed specialty behind cardiology in the next 15-20 years because of the baby boomer factor. Anecdotally, starting salaries are beginning to rise already because of this. Furthermore, if you go into retina, or if you're hugely successful as a refractive surgeon, you'll likely make more than most dermatologists. But if your objective is to be able to go anywhere in the country and he highly recruited and be paid handsomely right from the get go, then derm is a much safer bet.
Thank you for your reply. Don't get me wrong- i really liked ophtho. It's just hard as a med student to really know what your passion is and whether what you think is cool as a med student is really going to be cool years down the road or even as a resident (it's hard to tell when you're not directly doing the job) - and that's why i was trying to think of some of these other practical issues about the career/job market to also use as a factor for my decision.
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2002
- Messages
- 227
- Reaction score
- 0
I agree it's difficult to know as a med student what you'll really enjoy doing once you're in practice. However, knowing things like whether you like being in the OR and what kinds of procedures you like, probably won't change that much.
I have heard quite a bit of talk about reimbursements falling for catract surgery. However, if reimbursements fall I'd expect them to fall for all fields.
I have heard quite a bit of talk about reimbursements falling for catract surgery. However, if reimbursements fall I'd expect them to fall for all fields.
As in any field, you really have to love it to do it for decades. Ophthalmology has its positive aspects as well as its negatives. I would due my due diligence and find out both aspects before signing on. If you are concerned primarily about financial compensation, you may want to consider radiology, dermatopathology, or anesthesiology.
- Joined
- May 13, 2002
- Messages
- 4,755
- Reaction score
- 8
If it makes you feel better you will likely do just fine in ophthalmology while working considerably nicer hours than your other colleagues in medicine.
This is purely anecdotal, but a shrewd ophthalmologist should be able to net a quarter million annually working 40 or 45 hours every week. A successful investment banker works at least twice that and nets between two and four times that.
If you are interested in money, and there is nothing at all wrong with that, then you will need to work and think like a banker and you should net a half million without a problem.
This is purely anecdotal, but a shrewd ophthalmologist should be able to net a quarter million annually working 40 or 45 hours every week. A successful investment banker works at least twice that and nets between two and four times that.
If you are interested in money, and there is nothing at all wrong with that, then you will need to work and think like a banker and you should net a half million without a problem.
Similar threads
