oculoplastics fellowships

[atticus17]

Hello,
I haven't seen much posted about oculoplastics fellowships in the past few years, namely, is there a listing of non-asoprs fellowship programs? I haven't been able to find much on them. And is it still only ~14 spots?

Also, just out of curiosity, is there a reason the asoprs programs require you to apply in your second year? I would think it would be very difficult to know what fellowship you would want to do right after you finished your first year and were just getting your sea legs in ophthalmology, before you've gotten a good taste of all the other subspecialities.

Thanks.

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[orbitsurgMD]

I doubt there is an especially logical reason except that if you are not selected, there is enough time to apply for a non-ASOPRS fellowship or a fellowship in another subspecialty.

The non-ASOPRS fellowships are fewer anymore, listed either in the San Francisco Match or arranged privately with a preceptor.

 

[thiaeyemd]

The reason for second year match is so you can get your medical licensing in time etc.. so your preceptor can bill for you as an assistant during surgery etc..

 

[MR1]

The reason for second year match is so you can get your medical licensing in time etc.. so your preceptor can bill for you as an assistant during surgery etc..

Don't agree here. Every other fellowship match is later and you have plenty of time to get your license and have to. Every other fellowship finds out in December and that gives you 7months which is plenty even for painful states.

I think the reason is like stated above so you have a back up plan or just because they can, it's plastics, there are only a few programs and they do what they want

 

[JMK2005]

since there's usually a 50% match rate, earlier is better to give you options on back-up plans.

 

[ophthope]

Does anyone have information about which applicants tend to be the most successful at matching an ASOPRS fellowship? I had no idea you applied as a PGY-2. That doesn't seem to give a new Ophtho resident much time to bulk up their CV after they decide they like oculoplastics.

 

[JMK2005]

Does anyone have information about which applicants tend to be the most successful at matching an ASOPRS fellowship? I had no idea you applied as a PGY-2. That doesn't seem to give a new Ophtho resident much time to bulk up their CV after they decide they like oculoplastics.

Are you a resident or a medical student?

 

[mclem222]

How hard is a plastics fellowship?

 

[ophthope]

Are you a resident or a medical student?

Third year medical student (for only 6 more weeks) at a home institution without a plastics fellowship. I am interested in a fellowship that would prepared me to do more surgical procedures and I think I'd enjoy oculoplastics. I enjoyed some of the ENT surgeries and I find that I like oculoplastics for similar reasons. However I can't be certain without any live experience. I've watched a lot of oculoplastic surgery videos online but I can't make a subspecialty decision on that alone.

 

[JMK2005]

Decide on whether you want do ENT or ophthalmology first.

If you want to do oculoplastics, try to match in a program that has an ASOPRS fellowship, or at least has oculoplastics faculty who's done an ASOPRS fellowship. Connections count for a lot in matching.

 

[ophthope]

Decide on whether you want do ENT or ophthalmology first.

If you want to do oculoplastics, try to match in a program that has an ASOPRS fellowship, or at least has oculoplastics faculty who's done an ASOPRS fellowship. Connections count for a lot in matching.

I'm doing an away in clinical ophthalmology at an institution where there is an ASOPRS fellowship available. Or at least I plan to if the away rotation application is accepted. I definitely want to do ophtho not ENT. ENT would actually be pretty far down the list of other specialties if ophtho didn't work out for some reason. I just know that I want to do a surgically-oriented fellowship and not a medical one like uveitis or neuro-oph.

 

[Xlinks]

This possibly bears no relevance to the discussion but I think it worth mentioning that oculoplastics surgery is completely different from other ophthalmic surgical disciplines. So, if you are entering ophthalmology because you like oculoplastic surgery, you may be disappointed. Oculoplastic surgery is more closely linked to ENT than to ophthalmology.

 

[ophthope]

This possibly bears no relevance to the discussion but I think it worth mentioning that oculoplastics surgery is completely different from other ophthalmic surgical disciplines. So, if you are entering ophthalmology because you like oculoplastic surgery, you may be disappointed. Oculoplastic surgery is more closely linked to ENT than to ophthalmology.

Honestly my thought was that an oculoplastics fellowship would give me skills to perform some surgeries that appear to be enjoyable and rewarding to me and that would augment a general ophthalmology practice to perhaps make it a bit more surgical and allow for some elective procedures to augment a practice's income. Your post gives me the feeling that I am perhaps very far off on that idea - am I?

 

[JMK2005]

...augment a general ophthalmology practice to perhaps make it a bit more surgical...

General ophthalmology is very surgical, it's just that the emphasis on microsurgery.

As a general ophthalmologist, there is a lot of oculoplastics you can do without needing to do a fellowship. If you want to get into orbits and facial procedures however, that would require a fellowship.