Internal debacle

[IDR467]

Anyone here think about leaving optometry for medical school or know anyone who ended up making the switch?

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[percyeye]

It is difficult but it is possible.

What would make you want to switch?

 

[IDR467]

I think I’m more interested in the surgical aspect of medicine and want to work with my hands. The type of training we receive in optometry school seems like basic stuff techs can do. Plus I feel like there’s a serious gap in knowledge I would like to fill.

 

[gyngyn]

Anyone here think about leaving optometry for medical school or know anyone who ended up making the switch?

I'm sure it has happened.
I've never seen it, though.

 

[percyeye]

I think I’m more interested in the surgical aspect of medicine and want to work with my hands. The type of training we receive in optometry school seems like basic stuff techs can do. Plus I feel like there’s a serious gap in knowledge I would like to fill.

Things to consider...

Time, if you truly want to do a surgical field it may take another 10 years or so all in. If you have student loans that interest rate will be compounding during that time.

Being a surgeon is not guaranteed. Especially if you are thinking Ophthalmology. The top candidates in each medical school class will be vying for those spots so you better be near the top.

For pay you can still make a good living as a private practice owner. I make more than most PCPs and I probably work less hours.

Optometry is what you make of it. If you go and work commercial refracting all day you probably wont' be happy. If you are owner at a busy medical practice you can do quite well and stay very busy and be fulfilled.

We have a very good friend that matched their dream position in plastic surgery at a top institution and got a great fellowship and were miserable the entire time due pretty much living in the hospital for the past 10 years and missing the prime of their life. I think they overall regret going into a surgical specialty. So sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence.

**Go to the reddit forum on r/Residency and it is pretty doom and gloom over there. I know most happy people don't post and it is mostly just unhappy people venting but jeesh their stories of misery matches my friends story of hating their life.

 

[IDR467]

May I Pm you ?

 

[percyeye]

May I Pm you ?

Sure

 

[Optogal]

My feeling is that if you go into medicine, it's really only worth it if you specialize because even if your life is miserable, you can't turn down that kind of money.

If you are in family meds, then I think dentistry, optometry etc. can be a better career. The money starts to be comparable, and I think the quality of life is better.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I have identified one person posting online about going from OD to MD ... in the Caribbean.

 

[KHE]

I know of one person who was in the class behind me in optometry school who ended up in medical school and became a vitreoretinal surgeon.

 

[RetinaDude]

Percyeye gave good advice.

Ophthalmology is extremely competitive so you would be taking a big leap of faith if you dropped OD school to go to med school in hopes of becoming an ophthalmologist. It's not impossible but just be aware of what's ahead.

I have optometry friends who do extremely well, money wise, so the chance to earn a great living is definitely there. Many medium to small sized communities have a lot of older ODs so they are looking for help from the newer ODs to take over and prosper.

Also, there's a good bit of variety in what type of practice you choose. A few of my OD friends practice within a larger cataract group and are basically medical ophthalmologists......they don't do surgery/lasers but they help manage almost everything else that comes thru the door

 

[itek2OD]

I know of 2 OD/MDs just in my urban centre, I saw one OD go thru residency for OMD, and I'm sure there's at least 20-30 docs in NA that have done it. You need time, money, some luck and a lot of studying to do it. As others have said, while of course drive is a big part of it, one important thing is that you have to be in the top 10% of your med school class to place in OMD residency - its quite competitive. Med school + OMD residency is 7 years, and you haven't considered a fellowship yet. Hence the money check. Check out the OMD residency forum for kicks.
And good luck!

 

[wesleygarland]

Ophthalmologist here. For my two cents on this- I love my job. Surgery is challenging but rewarding. I am more than four years in and still feel like I am in the honeymoon phase in my career. That said, if I had to start over now knowing what I know about the path to get to where I am now I'm not sure that I could do it. If you are considering a path to ophthalmology, the first hoop to jump through would be getting accepted into medical school. You should not apply outside the US and would probably want to mostly consider MD programs in the top half of the medical school rankings. You want to do everything you can to make yourself as competitive as possible. This will mean completing research beyond the core curriculum for publication and working with faculty that can help you during the application process while passing your medical school exams and boards. At the end of my third year, I applied to around 100 of the residencies around the country and got invited for just a handful of interviews. One of my co-residents in training failed to match for three years in a row and completed an entire internal medicine residency prior to finally matching. Someone on the thread mentioned 7 more years but it will actually be 8 years: 4 for medical school, 1 for a preliminary medicine/surgery year, and three for ophthalmology residency. I would echo what someone else has already mentioned and say if your are interested in surgery consider joining a practice with of ODs and surgeons- here in Georgia, every surgical practice is dying to snatch up eager optometrists who want more of a surgical/medical practice. If you have specific questions on the process I would be happy to answer them for you just PM me.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Ophthalmologist here. For my two cents on this- I love my job. Surgery is challenging but rewarding. I am more than four years in and still feel like I am in the honeymoon phase in my career. That said, if I had to start over now knowing what I know about the path to get to where I am now I'm not sure that I could do it. If you are considering a path to ophthalmology, the first hoop to jump through would be getting accepted into medical school. You should not apply outside the US and would probably want to mostly consider MD programs in the top half of the medical school rankings. You want to do everything you can to make yourself as competitive as possible. This will mean completing research beyond the core curriculum for publication and working with faculty that can help you during the application process while passing your medical school exams and boards. At the end of my third year, I applied to around 100 of the residencies around the country and got invited for just a handful of interviews. One of my co-residents in training failed to match for three years in a row and completed an entire internal medicine residency prior to finally matching. Someone on the thread mentioned 7 more years but it will actually be 8 years: 4 for medical school, 1 for a preliminary medicine/surgery year, and three for ophthalmology residency. I would echo what someone else has already mentioned and say if your are interested in surgery consider joining a practice with of ODs and surgeons- here in Georgia, every surgical practice is dying to snatch up eager optometrists who want more of a surgical/medical practice. If you have specific questions on the process I would be happy to answer them for you just PM me.

Same thing here in Upstate SC.