Low Salary

[Marlonex]

ophthalmologist have a great job, but let's face it: the annual salary is very poor.

My question is if the pay will increase over the years. I also heard that the average is 250k-300k but retina specialist make 800k. Which field is the best payed?

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[alleyesonme]

Poor salaries at 250-300K? How much are you expecting to make, as you might want to reconsider your career choice. Plus with the decreasing reimbursements, numbers are not going up, and may actually go down across all fields of medicine.

 

[MedEye]

Reimbursements are definitely going down for all fields of medicine. It's not like the old days anymore.
Also, almost all specialties go thorugh cycles up and down, affecting how easy or competitive it becomes to get into residency of that specialty. But by the time you finish residency, things might be on the other side of the equation. Examples include anesthesia, GI, Ob/Gyn,...
So, think well what you like most (regardless of salary, as at the end all doctors will make ok money).

 

[Marlonex]

so what is the actual average for retina specialists?

 

[keye]

Are there any ophtho residents that wished they picked another field based on the reality of reimbursements?? Are the low reimbusrements/low starting salaries for folks from low tier programs with better jobs from top 20 prgs?

 

[abu barney]

Stop worrying about making money. Regardless of what the actual number is you'll afford to pay your loans, buy a house, and probably a benz too.

 

[abu barney]

If you wanted to get rich you should have went to Wall St.

In general, doctors across all specialties make *good* money, but only a few are really ballin' (like the radiologists but they all have Vit. D deficiency anyway).

 

[orbitsurgMD]

so what is the actual average for retina specialists?

Different from what it will be in ten years, no doubt.

 

[MedEye]

Different from what it will be in ten years, no doubt.

Why is that?
Is it because intravitreal injections are going to replace vitrectomies?

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Why is that?
Is it because intravitreal injections are going to replace vitrectomies?

Probably not true, but I meant in the more general sense that it is nearly useless for a pre-med student to try to judge the prospects or the utility of a particular sub-specialty he/she might possibly enter a decade hence. Present earnings are not a reliable predictor of future practice potential, there is too much change in practice patterns, technology and third-party payer behavior to make sense of the future prospects based on current average specialty income.

 

[Wolverine98]

If you wanted to get rich you should have went to Wall St.

Absolutely. You'll make a good living in medicine if you don't shoot yourself in the foot, but if your true drive is money, it would be best to steer away from medicine and into the financial sector.

 

[Wolverine98]

Are Are the low reimbusrements/low starting salaries for folks from low tier programs with better jobs from top 20 prgs?

Not really. There's really no correlation as far as that goes. It all depends on what you want to do. If you're looking at academic medicine (as many people in the high tier residencies are looking for), the reality is that you sacrifice some pay for that. If you want to live on one of the coasts, you're going to sacrifice some pay. However, a practice in Boise knows that it's going to have to really sweeten the deal to get someone there.