Question for Dr. Doan

[jburns3005]

I understand that surgery is generally a taught skill, but is it one that everyone can learn? Are there people who simply lack the manual dexterity/ fine motor skills to perform the more complex opthamologic procedures (retina surgery, etc)?

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[Andrew_Doan]

Welcome to the forum!

Yes. Most people can learn surgery. The hardest things about surgery are knowing when to perform surgery on a patient, how to manage complications, how to deal with surprises during the case, and how to manage the patient as a whole patient.

Yes. There are some people who lack the manual dexterity/fine motor skills to perform surgery; however, these are few, and according to Dr. Nerad (Oculoplastics surgeon at Iowa), in his 20+ years of teaching, he has yet to encounter a resident that he cannot teach.