ophthalmology

[pudgie84]

hi,

i plan on applying to optometry school, but i wanted to dig a little further into what becoming an ophthalmologist entails. i realize you need to get an MD or DO first, but would someone be nice enough to explain the procedure for obtaining a residency and how competitive ophthalmology is? do you have to be a top student in med school and apply to multiple opth residencies to have just a chance of getting into the field? would a DO degree be just as competitive as an MD? thanks!

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[TenderRender]

So as far as I understand it, after you get your MD or DO, you apply for a one year internship that'll take one year, then after that another three years of residency in opthalmology. Like Urology, Ophthalmology has a separate match process, though I dont know why (probably a historical reason?).

It's a very, very competitive residency, not the most out of all of em, but still way up there. Here's some statistics for you to look at:

http://www.sfmatch.org/residency/ophthalmology/about_match/match_report.pdf

As you can see, plenty of people fail to match.

For your other question, I'm almost certain that one should apply to multiple residencies no matter what specialty you're applying to, but you'd definitely want to with Ophtho as well. DO always has a bit rougher time matching into allopathic residencies on average (they have a ~ 75% match rate into allo residencies, compared to >90% for MD), but obviously that's just a statistic and it's all dependent on the individual. DO has the compensatory advantage of being able to match into DO residencies which would be comparatively easier for them, so that's something.

Additionally, once you've finished training, almost no one is going to give a crap whether you're DO or MD, so once you start working it'll by and large stop mattering.

I think if you're trying to consider opto vs ophtho, you might want to try shadowing an ophthalmologist to see if its worth trying to get those extra h's.

If I'm wrong on any of these points, someone please go ahead and correct me.

 

[pudgie84]

so this may be a silly question, but if you don't get matched to the residency you want are you stuck specializing in a different field? forever? can you take another year to strengthen your app by doing research or something like that and then reapply the following year? it's a scary thought to me that you can go to med school for 4 years and after all that hard work and high tuition, you may end up in a practice you didn't really want to get into

 

[RestoreSight]

so this may be a silly question, but if you don't get matched to the residency you want are you stuck specializing in a different field? forever? can you take another year to strengthen your app by doing research or something like that and then reapply the following year? it's a scary thought to me that you can go to med school for 4 years and after all that hard work and high tuition, you may end up in a practice you didn't really want to get into

If you want to match in ophtho it is VERY important you go to allopathic universities, not osteopathic. Ophtho is competitive, not as much as derm or rad onc, but on a scale of 1-5 I would give it a 4.5 with the former two mentioned specialties 5. Most people apply broadly to >50 programs throughout the country and many take a year off to add additional research to their CV before applying. There are about 430 positions nationwide in ophtho and each year things get more and more competitive. You can track the SF match statistics over the past 10 years for evidence of this.

The residency itself is a lifestyle specialty. There is very little inpatient medicine to deal with and very few emergencies you are called in to treat at 2 am. You apply for both an advanced position in ophthalmology and a prelim or transitional year internship during your fourth year of medical school. These do not have to be at the same institution. Its a great field and demand for ophthalmic procedures continues to grow with the aging population.

 

[TenderRender]

so this may be a silly question, but if you don't get matched to the residency you want are you stuck specializing in a different field? forever? can you take another year to strengthen your app by doing research or something like that and then reapply the following year? it's a scary thought to me that you can go to med school for 4 years and after all that hard work and high tuition, you may end up in a practice you didn't really want to get into

It's a pretty bad situation to not match. Usually you scramble (or SOAP, as its now called) in the week leading up to match day if you found out you matched nowhere.

You'd definitely spend time trying to strengthen your app for a stronger app, but each year you're out of med school, your MD loses value. Prog directors don't want to take someone who's been out of practice for too long (as far as I can tell).

If by the time you're applying for residencies it looks like you might not have a sure shot for Ophtho, you'd probably apply for another separate specialty at the same time as a backup. Not 100% sure how this works with ophtho (and Urology) since they have separate matches.

I dunno if its a good idea to go to med school if your goal isn't to become a doctor (but rather an eye health specialist). Hopefully if you're really that passionate about eyes specifically, that'd carry through into your application, and residencies would see that you did great in your Ophtho rotation, in away rotations, in ophtho research, etc etc.

But if you're deadset on working with eyes, and eyes only, going MD would be a gamble.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Go OD.