Road - o?

[MD13]

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[Perforin]

Just wondering - on clinics, the (private or formerly private) ophthalmologists I have interacted with (not that many, mind you) talked about how Ophthalmology 'used to be' great in terms of compensation and this and that and now it really isn't.

Just wondering - would you who are in the field still consider it to be a ROAD specialty (ie great compensation great lifestyle), or have I just been talking to the wrong people?

Is O still part of the ROAD, or is it still in there because of tradition?

I think it's just in there because of tradition. I've heard the exact same thing from many Ophthalmologists.

Still great in terms of hours worked/week and it's a fascinating specialty. But, if you are in it looking to make a starting salary of $500,000 like many radiologists, you will be extremely disappointed with your starting salary of maybe 150 K.

If I didn't love Ophthalmology, I would definitely hit up Rads then Derm. Anesthesia still scares me because of the Nurse Anesthetists.

 

[Visionary]

Seems like a thread of this type arises every month or so now. Listen, I was just at AAO in Chi-town. Ophthalmology is 4th in Medicare expenditures by specialty and by all accounts there is an expected dearth of ophthalmologists over the next 10 years. We bring in plenty of jack. 😎

Starting salaries are low because of the set-up, which I won't belabor again. Average salaries are just fine, especially considering the hours. This is particularly true for retina and oculoplastics. Check the ophthalmology vs. radiology thread on this site. Though some touted the 10 weeks of vacation for radiologists, they work far more hours per week. Even though I only took 3 weeks of vacation (by choice) last year, I still worked fewer overall hours than a radiologist taking 10 weeks of vacation. For those who need/want to work in saturated areas, tough nubbies. Your volume and pay will be suboptimal, regardless of specialty.

Bottom line is that ophthalmology is a great field with a good mix of compensation and lifestyle. I still contend you should pick a specialty based on interest, rather than the above, however. If you're looking for money and lifestyle, you probably shouldn't be in medicine anyway!

 

[echinoderm]

as visionary stated, great field that is balanced (hours, patients, pathology) and rewarding (maybe not financially, but saving/changing someone's vision is priceless)... what's scary about radiology is that they get paid so much that the salary can really only go in one direction (ie down), as being currently threatened by medicare cuts.