A lot of seemingly non-surgical subspecialists, like neuro-ophthalmologists, still need to practice general ophtho and do surgery to fill out their practices. That being said, it is possible to be even a general ophthalmologist and refer out all your surgery. I have known a few general ophthos who have done this after stopping in the OR for one reason or another. The catch is that you have to get through your residency training, and demonstrating surgical competence is certainly part of that. You will need to perform surgery as a resident, and if you don't think you can/don't think you want to, then ophtho is not the field for you.