Ophthalmology or OBGYN- plz help

[soonmd1]

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Hey Guys,
Here's the deal- involved with both ophtho and OB since first year, have been involved in woman's clinics but also ophtho research. Its time to make a decision and I still can't. Passionate about the subject matter in both fields!

Ophtho
Pros:
-helping people see!
-surgical, medical mix
-very specialized, no one can do what they do
-very visually oriented
-awesome lifestyle, plenty of time for outside interests

Cons:
-very specialized- potentially could get repetitive
-losing connection with the rest of medicine
-surgeries are very important, but not life and death
-a lifetime of people getting you confused as an optometrist
-optometrists

OBGYN
pros
-delivering babies!
- medical, surgical mix
-plenty of areas to subspecialize in (especially looking at mfm)
-specialty less likely to be threatened by mid-level providers
-real, open abdomen, blood and gore surgeries
-less specialized, but still have a specialist niche
-most of medical school does not seem irrelevant with OBGYN

cons
-life style life style life style ( although it could be more controlled in a large group)
- very malignant residency
-longer time to specialize
- areas you are dealing with not as, for lack of a better word, 'clean' as ophtho
- have to deal with more social issues
-malpractice

I am obviously not experienced enough to see the bigger picture in this situation. All the advice I have heard says I can't go wrong with either specialty. I could really use some advice, especially since I don't really have a clear idea about real world practice. I am going to post this on the ophtho forum too.

Thank you!!

 

[gynogrl]

Dude, not to betray my specialty, but if I had any interest in eyes I'd choose ophtho in a heartbeat. If you're competitive enough to get into it, lifestyle and salary will probably make you glad you chose it. Although I have to point out that OB is not all malignant, depends on the program, like every specialty.

I didn't like anything else nearly as much as OB, and I loved ob/gyn, so that made it an obvious choice for me. But it's not for everyone, and if you like something else equally that offers more perks and fewer negatives, I'd go for it.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[beyondcategory]

Have you done your clerkships in each yet? I know before third year I was interested in family and ob, but found that come third year I loved my ob rotation more. I'm sure this is a tough decision for you because both fields are quite different! I did a rotation in optho and think the eye is beautiful but generally boring 🙂. But it's totally what you want out of your field. One of the biggest reasons I love ob is the ability to advocate for women.

Ok back to my match countdown... Good luck deciding!

 

[FutureDoc734]

Have you done your clerkships in each yet? I know before third year I was interested in family and ob, but found that come third year I loved my ob rotation more. I'm sure this is a tough decision for you because both fields are quite different! I did a rotation in optho and think the eye is beautiful but generally boring 🙂. But it's totally what you want out of your field. One of the biggest reasons I love ob is the ability to advocate for women.

Ok back to my match countdown... Good luck deciding!

I agree with beyondcategory! I thought of ophtho during my first year, and even shadowed an ophtho for a while - but I found myself being bored most of the time :/ the subject is interesting, but there is A LOT of repetition (in other words, you'll be doing cataracts most of the time...); plus, optometrists may slowly get more power over time (some people are even saying that they may get to do the "simple" cataract surgeries soon...) because they are cheaper than ophthalmologists. At the end of the day, though, it is YOUR decision! it is definitely a lot to consider right now!

Good luck on your decision.

 

[PYT27]

Ob/gyn residency is a tough 4 years and the lifestyle afterwards can be (but is not always) stressful as well. Ultimately, I would agree with gynogirl. If you truly love something besides ob/gyn - then do that. I was looking into ophthalmology as well and think it's a fantastic field. However, it simply didn't have enough emotional oomph for me and the surgeries weren't what I pictured myself doing . . . take time and think about what you see yourself doing for the rest of your life.

goodluck! 🙂

 

[HumbleMD]

Have you done electives in each? That will probably help you choose. I wanted to like optho or ENT but I was bored to tears (glaucoma blah blah, recurrent sinusitis blah blah). OB-GYN was for me, but certainly not for everyone (I personally think more hardcore, more open for research, and more exciting).

 

[daeojkim]

Just wait until you do both rotations before you decide.

As for ophtho, it is very difficult to get any hands on experience as medical student unless you are extremely proactive. Most of the time you will be standing on the side unable to see what the hell they are looking at through the slit lamp or during surgery and get bored to death. I thought the same until I got to learn how to use slit lamp and lenses, learn to use indirect to view the retina, and get a taste of retina surgery as first assist, etc etc. It is markedly different experience when you get a close up experience. I was lucky to meet an attending who let me experience all those things and I made a decision to in into ophtho towards end of third year.

As for OBGYN rotations, you often do get to assist in C-sections, catch a baby during delivery, use U/S, quite frequently so it may seem more exciting. I personally had ruled out OBGYN early on so I had a quite biased view so I didn't enjoy the rotation that much.

As far as excitement or interesting aspect of the field, it is up to you to make it as exciting and interesting as you want or as boring as you want. Both fields have cutting edge research and new technologies being developed, you can teach and get involved in communities or international activities.

Someone had told me "If you can' decide between two fields, choose one with better lifestyle because 20 years from now everything becomes routine and a job is a job. So even if you don't like what you doing for any reason, you will have a nice lifestyle to enjoy"

Anyways, as for optometrists, I am not too worried since I will probably be retired by the time optometrists will have any significant impact. It is basically same argument between CRNA and anesthesiologists, but anesthesiologists still enjoy one of highest salaries and nice lifestyle.