Potential of a D.O.

[Dr.Vitaminka]

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Can a D.O. be a plastic surgeon or ophthalmologist?

 

[Doc 2b]

No, they can only go into Family Practice or Internal Medicine. And they can only secure residencies in usually crappy rural programs if they are in the top 5% of their class....

Man this has been posted a thousand times, do us all a favor and do a search.

 

[DrMom]

Can a D.O. be a plastic surgeon or ophthalmologist?

yes, of course. they are fully-licensed physicians.

 

[Dr.Vitaminka]

No, they can only go into Family Practice or Internal Medicine. And they can only secure residencies in usually crappy rural programs if they are in the top 5% of their class....

Man this has been posted a thousand times, do us all a favor and do a search.

Thanks Dr. Mom, I tried doing a post, but didn't find what I was looking for. If D.O.'s can be plastic surgeons and ophthalmologists, is it harder to get a residency in these fields? What's the above post about? Bitterness or truth?

 

[acl3623]

you need to do some basic research on osteopathy...this isnt the place you should be at...google it... 🙂

 

[OSUdoc08]

Can a D.O. be a plastic surgeon or ophthalmologist?

Only if M.D.'s can...

D.O.'s can hold ANY job M.D.'s can.

D.O.'s & M.D.'s are both equally competitive for most residencies. There are a select few residencies that are more competitive for D.O.'s than M.D.'s. However, D.O.'s have established their own residency system, where M.D.'s are unable to apply.

 

[dr.z]

Thanks Dr. Mom, I tried doing a post, but didn't find what I was looking for. If D.O.'s can be plastic surgeons and ophthalmologists, is it harder to get a residency in these fields? What's the above post about? Bitterness or truth?

It maybe harder for D.O.'s to get those residency positions, but it is also hard for M.D.s as well. It will all depend on you during your medical school.

 

[DORoe]

Can a D.O. be a plastic surgeon or ophthalmologist?

well we can only do plastic surgery on the bones. As for becoming an ophthalmologist that is out. All we are good for is cracking backs and doing crazy voodoo medicine. 🙄

 

[PublicHealth]

Examples of Osteopathic Ophthalmologists:

http://www.perryeyeclinic.com/staff.html

http://www.tlcvision.com/centers_tlcvision/Tulsa/our_doctors/

http://www.associatedretinalconsultants.com/staff_yeavally.asp

http://www.healthteam.msu.edu/providers/providersdetail.asp?key=3619


Examples of Osteopathic Plastic Surgeons:

http://www.theaestheticsurgeon.com/why_us/dr_schmid.php

http://www.locateadoc.com/folio.cfm/sid/44/id/120

http://www.ienhance.com/physician/page3_training.asp?DocID=51100

http://www.lookingyourbest.com/surgeons/about/tgkotoske


Just go to google and enter "osteopathic ophthalmology" and "osteopathic plastic surgery." You'll get plenty of hits.

 

[jjmcentee@hotma]

Wow, I am really turned off by all the aggresive responses. Toughen up your character people, its a legitamate question.

Dr. V. I have been doing some research on this also, and its not that easy to find answers. I asked the same questions not more than a year ago and only one student jumped down my throat, just a little defensive I guess. I have interest in being a DO Ophthamologist. As a matter of fact I talked to three since my fact finding mission started.

Residencies are hard to come by, but they are hard for everyone. It seems that if you start searching soon after the completion of your second year (and the school will help you), and you stay focused, sincere and diliberate, you should be able to make it. It's just like getting into medical school. If you stay focused, sincere, and do your research, you'll get in.

The residencies are as follows, you have to do your 1 year of internal medicine after medical school, then you do three years of Ophthamology, One physician did tell me that you may want to take the MD portion of the board exam as well as the DO version, it helps in really competitive residencies. But figure it out as you get closer. It will start to come into focus.

Jim

 

[medic170]

Wow, I am really turned off by all the aggresive responses. Toughen up your character people, its a legitamate question.

Dr. V. I have been doing some research on this also, and its not that easy to find answers. I asked the same questions not more than a year ago and only one student jumped down my throat, just a little defensive I guess. I have interest in being a DO Ophthamologist. As a matter of fact I talked to three since my fact finding mission started.

Jim

People just have their troll detectors on full power and are getting some false positives. I agree, we as future DO's have to try to be understanding of the continued ignorance most people have about the profession. We should welcome their questions and answer them in an informative way in order teach them about osteopathic medicine. It's just hard to do that sometimes on SDN with the Troll population on the rise as it has been lately. (Trolls reproduce like rabbits, and their population will taper eventually).

 

[PsychProf]

i suppose by asking, i am now a troll.......but what is a troll?

 

[Fin-Nor]

What is a troll? they look like this thing.

 

[medic170]

i suppose by asking, i am now a troll.......but what is a troll?

I don't think you are a troll, that's why I stuck up for you 😀


SDN Forums Usage Policies
Student Doctor Network Forums Usage Policies

Trolling / Repeat Trolls

The term troll is a slang term used to describe a number of things, traditionally it refers to a person who posts items intended to incite controversy or conflict. An individual posting honestly-held but controversial opinions is welcome at SDN. However, trolls are not. A troll's primary incentive is the incitement of conflict. Trolls often resort to verbal abuse, making inflammatory remarks maligning the motivation of other guests. Those guests that behave in this manner will be banned immediately and without notice. Banned trolls that return to the SDN Forums will be immediately banned again upon identification of their new account. Those who repeatedly return to troll will have their IP address blocked.

 

[DrMom]

Hey, guys. I know we get frustrated to have the same questions asked over and over again. And it is frustrating that people don't browse the forums and do decent searches before they ask. BUT...you cannot continue to attack everyone who asks these questions. Give them the benefit of the doubt. You can always check out their previous posts (if there are any) and see if they have been a legit poster. I just ask that you please not go after everyone who asks questions about DOs.

 

[medic170]

Hey, guys. I know we get frustrated to have the same questions asked over and over again. And it is frustrating that people don't browse the forums and do decent searches before they ask. BUT...you cannot continue to attack everyone who asks these questions. Give them the benefit of the doubt. You can always check out their previous posts (if there are any) and see if they have been a legit poster. I just ask that you please not go after everyone who asks questions about DOs.

Exactly what I was trying to say Mom. BTW, I love the Santa hat on the avatar, Merry Christmas! 😀

 

[Shinken]

Wow, I am really turned off by all the aggresive responses. Toughen up your character people, its a legitamate question.

I don't think it's such a legitimate question in this forum. To me it sounded like trolling, but I'm so tired of these messages I decided to leave my sarcarsm for another time (my response was going to be like DORoe's...except probably a few notches higher in the sarcasm scale).

To answer the OP's question:

If your question is legit, yes DOs can become both. The nice thing about it is that you can apply to allopathic programs, but there are also osteopathic programs open only to DOs (they're also competitive). According to the Nov 2004 issue of JAOA, there were 91 approved positions for Plastic Surgery and 42 approved positions for opthalmology (again, those are open only to DOs). I don't have the numbers for the funded positions, but if it helps, the number of DOs in those programs were 72 in plastics and 29 in optho. Go to this page: http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/full/104/11/468 and scroll down to Table 7 (you can also download the article in pdf format).

 

[DrMom]

I'll add, for what its worth, that those out there with questions about osteopathic medicine really need to check out the stickies in the pre-osteo forum. Most general questions will be answered there.

 

[ornis4]

I think another element for some of these newbies is that they don't know how to use the forums yet either, in addition to not knowing much about osteopathy. Thus, instead of coming on here and reading the help and stickies, etc. they instead first ask their naive questions in good faith. I didn't know how to search and/or what a sticky was when i first used this site, as I had never been part of a forum atmosphere before. If newbies could gain a better grasp of how to use the entire site upon registering, perhaps we'd cut down on these types of questions. And I suppose the rest of us need to reserve our bottled up angst as well....

 

[Doc 2b]

I think another element for some of these newbies is that they don't know how to use the forums yet either, in addition to not knowing much about osteopathy. Thus, instead of coming on here and reading the help and stickies, etc. they instead first ask their naive questions in good faith. I didn't know how to search and/or what a sticky was when i first used this site, as I had never been part of a forum atmosphere before. If newbies could gain a better grasp of how to use the entire site upon registering, perhaps we'd cut down on these types of questions. And I suppose the rest of us need to reserve our bottled up angst as well....

Thats a good point, I probably owe the OP an appology. But I get really sick of these people that just post ignorant crap on here, at least the same questions day after day. I look at these forums as a place to get info you can't find anywhere else. Some of these posts you could easily answer just by going to the AOA website, which should be a requirement before you even think about asking a question.

I have an idea on how to solve this...require people to view a set number of posts before being able to post themselves. This would cut down on this issue by forcing people to read some of the info, and teach them how to navigate the forums before they can contribute. It would also all but eliminate trolling. Any thoughts? Could this happen?

 

[flpremed04]

Hey, guys. I know we get frustrated to have the same questions asked over and over again. And it is frustrating that people don't browse the forums and do decent searches before they ask. BUT...you cannot continue to attack everyone who asks these questions. Give them the benefit of the doubt. You can always check out their previous posts (if there are any) and see if they have been a legit poster. I just ask that you please not go after everyone who asks questions about DOs.

I agree, there are plenty of those who are new and nobody is forced to respond if they feel they're done discussing a topic.

 

[DORoe]

I think I owe the OP and everyone an apology for my snide remark. Merry Christmas everyone

 

[shan-bot 2000]

well we can only do plastic surgery on the bones. As for becoming an ophthalmologist that is out. All we are good for is cracking backs and doing crazy voodoo medicine. 🙄

BWAHHAHAHAHA!