Question

[jaylee8191]

How many surgeries does an Ophthalmologist perform weekly if he/she decides to work in a hospital? And How many days of clinical/office work does a Ophthalmologist perform weekly and how many days of surgery or Operation Room work?

I am a Pre-Med Student researching about Ophthalmology so if you can answer my question, that would be great. Thanks!

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[jaylee8191]

Or is it based on the doctor's preference?

 

[JMK2005]

How many surgeries does an Ophthalmologist perform weekly if he/she decides to work in a hospital? And How many days of clinical/office work does a Ophthalmologist perform weekly and how many days of surgery or Operation Room work?

I am a Pre-Med Student researching about Ophthalmology so if you can answer my question, that would be great. Thanks!

Ophthalmologist work exclusively in the clinic/office setting rather than the hospital. For surgeries, they may do this in an outpatient surgery center (either connected to their office or part of a larger clinic) or in the operating rooms of a hospital.

an average schedule would be 3-4 days of seeing patients in the office and 1 day of surgery.

volume of surgery could be from 5-20 surgeries per week.

 

[elementals]

Y'know, I had a knee-jerk urge to tell you you're starting WAAAYY too early... except you're not. These days some people literally come into med school knowing they wanna do ophtho and gear all four years toward matching. I imagine, all other things being equal, that they have quite a leg up on the competition.

That said, if you do decide you're really interested in ophtho, try to shadow someone both in clinic and in the OR. You can only learn so much from reading, and plain numbers don't really tell you much. ENT and Ophtho hours are very similar, I'd say (maybe they're a little more intense, esp in residency), but it's a totally different experience. Ophtho surgeries, for example, were generally short but intricate and delicate. ENT -- and I grossly generalize -- was either like 17 hr hell slogs or <1hr exercises in repetition and boredom. I was actually 150% sure I was going to do ENT until I rotated in ENT (and ophtho as an afterthought, simply b/c it was the only other 2-week elective I didn't hate). Ended up absolutely abhorring ENT and loving ophtho. On top of the unpleasant surgeries, there was just so much snot! So much goo! There's something categorically gross about sticking your fingers in someone's face-holes. It was actually somehow even worse than colorectal, OB-Gyn and urological orifices combined.

Anyway, I digress xD Good on you, wee pre-med. Hope to see you do well in the years to come!

(I'm just joking. Not really being patronizing 🙂 )

 

[Trefoil]

Y'know, I had a knee-jerk urge to tell you you're starting WAAAYY too early... except you're not. These days some people literally come into med school knowing they wanna do ophtho and gear all four years toward matching. I imagine, all other things being equal, that they have quite a leg up on the competition.

That said, if you do decide you're really interested in ophtho, try to shadow someone both in clinic and in the OR. You can only learn so much from reading, and plain numbers don't really tell you much. ENT and Ophtho hours are very similar, I'd say (maybe they're a little more intense, esp in residency), but it's a totally different experience. Ophtho surgeries, for example, were generally short but intricate and delicate. ENT -- and I grossly generalize -- was either like 17 hr hell slogs or <1hr exercises in repetition and boredom. I was actually 150% sure I was going to do ENT until I rotated in ENT (and ophtho as an afterthought, simply b/c it was the only other 2-week elective I didn't hate). Ended up absolutely abhorring ENT and loving ophtho. On top of the unpleasant surgeries, there was just so much snot! So much goo! There's something categorically gross about sticking your fingers in someone's face-holes. It was actually somehow even worse than colorectal, OB-Gyn and urological orifices combined.

Anyway, I digress xD Good on you, wee pre-med. Hope to see you do well in the years to come!

(I'm just joking. Not really being patronizing 🙂 )

I actually was between ENT and Ophtho too. I thought the big ENT procedures were fun but horribly exhausting and depressing. At the end of a 14 hour case, I would feel like we had literally torn a person's face apart and may or may not have extended their life. At the end of a 20 minute Ophtho case I would know that the person's life had significantly improved. Obviously there are exceptions, but the general pattern is what sold me on Ophtho. Fast, painless, life changing procedures that are very delicate and pretty to watch. "High yield" as a med student would say. I would take either specialty in a heartbeat over pretty much everything else in medicine, and I would take any medical job over anything else. So in the grand scheme of things, both are high on the list of cool jobs. In terms of hours, I agree with what is above 1-2 days in the OR for Ophtho. The rest is clinic unless you are on call, so you really need to love clinic for Ophtho.

 

[elementals]

@StupidRoo -- clearly you're not stupid! 😀 But yes, exaaaactly how I felt. ENT was either boring or horrific to me. Or, y'know, gross. In ophtho, you have the chance to really make a positive impact in patients' lives. My grandmother, who used to be a professor, a prolific writer, and a lover of literature, handiwork, and fine art, has advanced AMD that's essentially wiped out her central vision. She can't do any of the things she used to enjoy anymore (though to her credit, she's coped by getting into exercise(!) at age 90+). I told her I was going into ophtho, and that it wasn't a lifesaving field. She told me if someone could give her back the vision she had 20 years ago, it'd be about the same as saving her life. I almost cried xD

Anyway, way off topic now. Just wanted to add: ophtho clinic is actually a ton of fun, very fast-paced and, like the OR, very immediate results in many cases. However you should be aware that while shadowing, it can seem utterly boring -- so don't be too quick to judge ophtho by that experience. As a premed I doubt anyone will let you directly examine the patient, as I'm fairly sure they could be sued penniless for it, but the actual exam is really where the fun is. Still, if you can get a peek through a teaching scope or perhaps even a crack at the indirect ophthalmoscope (the light-hat-binocs thing), definitely do so. That may give you a better sense of what it's about.

Good luck w/ your pursuit of ophtho, OP. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. I'm sure most of the people on these boards would be more than happy to answer you too.

 

[jaylee8191]

Thanks for answering my questions! 😀
I heard there are many different specialty one can go into ophthalmology and I tried doing some research on it but didn't find anything about it detailed. So can anyone answer my question of different specialties?
From what I read, there are cataract, retina, lasik or pathology specialists.

 

[DrZeke]

Uveitis
Retina
Cornea - may include lasik
Glaucoma
Pediatrics
Neuro
General - includes lasik


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[Super66]

Randomly, I'm another person who was really having a tough time choosing between ENT and ophtho. I honestly think I'd have been happy in either field. I thought that the ENT surgeries I saw were fantastic, especially the head and neck stuff. Such wonderful anatomy and very cool cases. The face holes, and goo, and unpleasant imagery didn't bother me. The thing that, for me personally, pushed me WAY over on the ophtho side was clinic. I LOVED ophtho clinic. Like, really, truly loved it. Even as a medical student. I loved the slit lamp exam. I loved the chalazion removals and intravitreal injections and the lasers. I pretty much liked everything about it except refraction and taking visual acuity (a necessary evil). I found ENT clinic to be, frankly, fairly boring. Too much chronic sinusitis and clogged ears and dizziness.

In any case, they're both wonderful fields. I think many of us are drawn to both b/c of our desire to be experts on something and do both the medical and surgical management in that area. Urology and OB/GYN are also similar in my mind in this way. I prefer above the waist though. Different strokes. Don't think my musings help the OP any, but I decided to write b/c the posts above triggered memories of me searching for "ENT vs Ophthalmology" threads at several points during MS3 and thought it couldn't hurt to add another 2016 POV to the discussion.

And jaylee, buddy, not to be a jerk -- but all you have to do is google the word "ophthalmology" to find the info Dr. Zeke posted. As someone who potentially has a long and difficult slog ahead of you, I suggest you start learning to love Wikipedia now. Good luck with your quest.

 

[jaylee8191]

@Super66
Yeah I know I can find the basic information like that on Google. I thought I said detailed explanation of each specialty but guess not lol

 

[jaylee8191]

Never mind I just realized I can search up the subspecialites lol. Im being an idiot :'D

 

[Super66]

Never mind I just realized I can search up the subspecialites lol. Im being an idiot :'D

At your current level of knowledge/training, reading in-depth or detailed descriptions of what these subspecialists do might be difficult. But, yeah, googling and reading up on the basics should help. Here is a very basic/simplistic explanation from the AAO, but it's a good start. http://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/ophthalmology-training-certification

 

[DrZeke]

Never mind I just realized I can search up the subspecialites lol. Im being an idiot :'D

Yes, you can. Not to knock you down in any way, but we can sit here talking about Ophtho a lot and tell you everything about the specialty, but ultimately you need to go med school and go through rotations and figure this out for yourself. People go into different specialties for many different reasons and the way they select a specialty is personal. In addition, people often come into med school thinking they want one thing, but after rotations and meeting with mentors they realize they want something else. There's a reason why the very detailed information relating to medical school, residency and its challenges is often fed to you in a stepwise fashion. It's because taking it all in at once is often overwhelming.

Remember that by the time you are ready to select a specialty it will be 4-5 years from now. Your priorities may have changed drastically. Enjoy each step of the process. It's good to be informed and to look ahead but remember to live in the moment 😉

Good luck!


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[jaylee8191]

Thanks to everyone who answered my questions!
Definitely I dont have my heart and soul set on ophtho but on other specialty areas too. I'll definitely try my best to enter Medical school (my goal is UCSD) and really decide what I want to be from there.

 

[elementals]

UCSD would be a good choice; they almost always take two of their own med students as ophtho residents, which is a huge advantage. Other schools that have amazing ophtho departments (for those all-important connections) are UCLA, UCSF, Oregon, Utah, Univ of Illinois @ Chicago, UMich, Emory, Harvard, Columbia, Mt Sinai, Johns Hopkins, Jefferson, UMiami, Baylor, UT Southwestern. I'm sure I'm missing lots but there's a start. Of course those schools are all relatively hard to get into. That said, I always feel like people going to Jefferson or UMiami luck the eff out though. They're generally considered mid-tier schools, and yet they have two of the most respected ophtho programs in the country. If you go there you've got it made.

Re: specialties, it's way too early to consider that. But you should know that there's really a huge range of "styles" represented, from the heavily hardcore surgical (surg retina) to the very long-term-patient-relationship-y (uveitis) to even a meat-and-bones field (plastics). It's really an amazing specialty; small wonder people are falling over themselves to get in!

Also I think ENT/Ophtho is one of the most common splits out there. I must've met like 10,000,000 people who'd looked at both. It's pretty easy to see why; they're SO similar on paper -- both 75% outpatient clinic, 25% surgical; both pretty gadgety; both well-paying and "good lifestyle"; both hard to get into and thus attractive to high achievers. Funny thing is when you're actually rotating, they feel so incredibly different. Which I guess gets back to my earlier point -- you can read all you want, and I certainly encourage you to, but at some point you really should try to set up a shadowing experience. If you fit that ophtho really is something you might be interested in, you should continue that throughout the first 2 years of med school to lay a foundation of interest.

 

[Trefoil]

@StupidRoo -- clearly you're not stupid! 😀 But yes, exaaaactly how I felt. ENT was either boring or horrific to me. Or, y'know, gross. In ophtho, you have the chance to really make a positive impact in patients' lives. My grandmother, who used to be a professor, a prolific writer, and a lover of literature, handiwork, and fine art, has advanced AMD that's essentially wiped out her central vision. She can't do any of the things she used to enjoy anymore (though to her credit, she's coped by getting into exercise(!) at age 90+). I told her I was going into ophtho, and that it wasn't a lifesaving field. She told me if someone could give her back the vision she had 20 years ago, it'd be about the same as saving her life. I almost cried xD

Anyway, way off topic now. Just wanted to add: ophtho clinic is actually a ton of fun, very fast-paced and, like the OR, very immediate results in many cases. However you should be aware that while shadowing, it can seem utterly boring -- so don't be too quick to judge ophtho by that experience. As a premed I doubt anyone will let you directly examine the patient, as I'm fairly sure they could be sued penniless for it, but the actual exam is really where the fun is. Still, if you can get a peek through a teaching scope or perhaps even a crack at the indirect ophthalmoscope (the light-hat-binocs thing), definitely do so. That may give you a better sense of what it's about.

Good luck w/ your pursuit of ophtho, OP. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. I'm sure most of the people on these boards would be more than happy to answer you too.

I had a similar experience with both my grandmother and my aunt. One grandmother has glaucoma and can't read books anymore which was her favorite pastime. She has a horrible time even navigating her house and went through a bit of a depression as a result. My aunt had really horrible Type 1 DM and ended up with bilateral retinal detachments and has NLP. You can see how quickly a person's life changes following vision loss. My other grandmother has wet AMD, but her vision is currently preserved with avastin, which is incredible considering how recently it came out. I would also argue that cataract surgery and many other eye surgeries likely prevent fatal falls and accidents. The reality is that everything in medicine kicks the can down the road so to speak. Ophthalmology is no different in that regard. I do feel that it is a patient oriented field with patient quality of life in mind which was very important for me in choosing a specialty. I really didn't want a field that was too "disease oriented" if that makes sense.

 

[NoSpec]

Just chiming in as another person who considered ENT. Until I scrubbed in on a neck dissection. Then I NOPE'd right out of there. I remember thinking that whatever I had to do with my life to avoid ever having to be a part of one of those again I would do it. I don't know why, just did not enjoy it. I mean the anatomy is interesting and the surgeries are interesting but I just don't have that much of an attention span I guess.

On the other hand I had people tell me I would get bored doing mainly cataracts. Still in training but I don't see that being true since I love doing them.

 

[elementals]

LOL! "NOPE'd right out of there."

Yeah, neck dissections are horrid. I think I was just depressed by the fact that we were more often than not carving someone's larynx out forever. Jeebus, imagine going under being able to speak and then waking up just... missing that faculty. Imagine the days leading up to that surgery, knowing every word was one word closer to your last. Depressing as hell.

 

[DrZeke]

UCSD would be a good choice; they almost always take two of their own med students as ophtho residents, which is a huge advantage. Other schools that have amazing ophtho departments (for those all-important connections) are UCLA, UCSF, Oregon, Utah, Univ of Illinois @ Chicago, UMich, Emory, Harvard, Columbia, Mt Sinai, Johns Hopkins, Jefferson, UMiami, Baylor, UT Southwestern. I'm sure I'm missing lots but there's a start. Of course those schools are all relatively hard to get into. That said, I always feel like people going to Jefferson or UMiami luck the eff out though. They're generally considered mid-tier schools, and yet they have two of the most respected ophtho programs in the country. If you go there you've got it made.

Re: specialties, it's way too early to consider that. But you should know that there's really a huge range of "styles" represented, from the heavily hardcore surgical (surg retina) to the very long-term-patient-relationship-y (uveitis) to even a meat-and-bones field (plastics). It's really an amazing specialty; small wonder people are falling over themselves to get in!

Also I think ENT/Ophtho is one of the most common splits out there. I must've met like 10,000,000 people who'd looked at both. It's pretty easy to see why; they're SO similar on paper -- both 75% outpatient clinic, 25% surgical; both pretty gadgety; both well-paying and "good lifestyle"; both hard to get into and thus attractive to high achievers. Funny thing is when you're actually rotating, they feel so incredibly different. Which I guess gets back to my earlier point -- you can read all you want, and I certainly encourage you to, but at some point you really should try to set up a shadowing experience. If you fit that ophtho really is something you might be interested in, you should continue that throughout the first 2 years of med school to lay a foundation of interest.

Except you better be top 10% of the class and have AOA if you wanna match Bascom as a UMiami student. Some years they take nobody.


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[elementals]

Oh god no, I didn't mean to match *into* Bascom. But coming out of Bascom/Wills, you're almost sure to match somewhere/anywhere.

 

[DrZeke]

Oh god no, I didn't mean to match *into* Bascom. But coming out of Bascom/Wills, you're almost sure to match somewhere/anywhere.

That's true 😉


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[DrZeke]

Shoutout to UMiami...we have incredible support throughout the application process (from actual ophthalmologists) and it makes a world of difference. @jaylee8191, since you're lucky enough to have identified a strong interest in ophtho already, I'd ask about the availability of specialty specific/pre-match advising at the schools you're looking at. It sounds like at other schools the ophtho PD tends to assume this role, and is of varying degrees of helpfulness.

Just to clarify- academic, well-known ophthalmologists... This is important.


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[jaylee8191]

Is it true that adults under 21 cannot do Lasik surgery?