Ophthalmologist suffering vision loss

[noflag]

Any stories of ophthalmologists suffering from vision loss due to myopic degen, RD, AMD? Possible earlier in your career? Would love to hear what you did to pivot in terms of your career if that was necessary. I have concerns about my future ophthalmic health and am early in my career sadly. Right now, the only thing I can do is continue to maximize my disability insurance I guess?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[increscence]

I am sorry to hear about this, you've worked so hard for so long and now the future is uncertain.

As far as disability insurance goes, I would strongly recommend that you listen to the Doctor Money Matters episodes on disability insurance. They talk about the pitfalls of how people navigate this exact type of situation. It can really help you plan for the future.

Also, although I'm sure that things are worrisome right now, if there ever were to come a day when you couldn't practice as an ophthalmologist, I hope you could find another path to utilize your skills! Episode 360 of the 99% Invisible podcast, "The Universal Page," has a great story by someone with RP and the world of low vision.

 

[noflag]

Thank you for that! I guess my other question for the board is whether it would be possible to be non-surgical/ non procedural as an Ophtho and still work in clinic if vision became an issue?

 

[increscence]

It depends on whether you can perform an adequate examination. I honestly couldn't tell you if you would be able to care for patients safely, but it's good to ask yourself these questions now.

 

[Dusn]

You need very good central vision in all fields of ophthalmology.

Are you a medstudent? In terms of other fields that might be more suitable for low vision: I know of an internist with RP who switched to psychiatry. Although I don't know if she really needed to switch. A lot of doctors are having virtual visits with their patients over the phone now and are realizing that they don't really need to "see" their patients. Unfortunately, ophthalmologists are not succeeding at the virtual visit right now. We are not a good speciality for the visually impaired.

 

[MstaKing10]

Depends on the degree of vision loss of course but given the nature of what we do, good vision is a must. Ours is a very imaging, exam based specialty. Unlike say psychiatry or internal medicine where perfect vision is less important. Even as a medical ophthalmologist (of which there are very few that I know of) looking through the slit lamp, examining a fundus with indirect, and looking at OCT, photos etc will require decent acuity.