retina fellowship

[westernmed007]

Hi,
How easy is it to land a retina fellowship? I have heard that oculoplastics is pretty tough. The one doc I talked to made it sound like it was rather easy to find a spot in retina if you wanted one. Is that true? Hope everyone had a good weekend.

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[PDT4CNV]

Hi,
How easy is it to land a retina fellowship? I have heard that oculoplastics is pretty tough. The one doc I talked to made it sound like it was rather easy to find a spot in retina if you wanted one. Is that true? Hope everyone had a good weekend.

That retina match was very competitive last year. There are probably about 25-30 surgical retina fellowships that range from decent to excellent. The rest are subpar. Oculoplastics is also very competitive with fewer fellowship spots than retina. Interest in retina has grown trememdously over the last 5 years. Purely medical Retina or uveitis fellowships are not as competitive.

 

[westernmed007]

Do you have any idea as to where I could read about the difficulty (as well as lifestyle, location, etc) of matching into the various fellowships associated with ophtho? Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[PDT4CNV]

Do you have any idea as to where I could read about the difficulty (as well as lifestyle, location, etc) of matching into the various fellowships associated with ophtho? Thanks for any help you can give me.

There's not much to it really. Retina and Plastics/Orbit are the most competitive fellowships. Neuro and Pathology are probably the least competitive. Pediatrics, Cornea, and Glaucoma fall somewhere in the middle.

There are also a few fellowships in uveitis, genetics, ultrasonography/electrophysiology and a few others.

Lifestyle tends to be pretty good for all subspecialties although retina tends to be the busiest in terms of call and after hours work. Neuroophthalmology is generally limits you to an academic practice or to practice comprehensive ophthalmology as well. The same with ophthalmic pathology.

Subspecialty exposure during residency training is very program dependent which would certainly influence what area you want additional training in.

 

[westernmed007]

Thanks, I appreciate that, do you have any idea how many people try out for those 25-30 retina spots? Also the "not worth it spots" you mentioned in retina, how many are there and what would deem them "not worth it"? Is the training that bad? Would you not be able to land a job in an academic setting? Are those more aimed at those who want non-prestigous private practice type settings for retina surgery?

 

[mcgmaniac]

How Can we talk about lifestyle? People are going BLIIIND!

 

[indytx]

How Can we talk about lifestyle? People are going BLIIIND!

ahhh to be a young and idealistic medical student again...

 

[westernmed007]

Ha, good point. Seriously though, can anyone answer my above questions?