Okay, as an allopathic M4 applying into ophtho:
1) It is absolutely harder to get into many specialties as a DO. People who tell you otherwise simply haven't looked at the stats well enough. Go look at the sf match data for the 2020 match and previous years if you don't believe me. Yes, some competitive fields are much better about it than others, but as others have pointed out, you really can't know now where you'll end up, and you really don't want to have doors closed / very uphill battles when you find what you end up loving and wanting to do with the rest of your life.
2) I think it's important to realize how competitive certain subspecialty matches are at baseline. I got a 98th percentile on the MCAT. But most people who got into med school are probably 90th percentile plus. Thus I did just above average on step 1, despite studying way harder, longer, and smarter for it. Step 2 likewise. Despite a bunch of research efforts, volunteering, and some really unique extracurriculars, it's been a hard application cycle. And ophtho isn't as hard as some others, like ENT, ortho, or derm. Now step 1 is going p/F, so it'll be even harder to stand out, unless you just rock step 2 (and to an extent, even if you do - you still have to check all the boxes), and as I've pointed out, you can't bank on performing at the top 1% of all med students on that. If you're even considering the possibility of a difficult subspecialty, don't add the DO stigma to the mix. Some of these programs are still very old school and the bias very real in applications. I would say even very low tier MD (except carribean) > very hight tier DO for most allopathic PDs. I certainly have no clue how to tell one DO school from another, and wouldn't assume a 60-year old MD would care to figure all that out either. Most of what I've heard from DOs and osteopathic students about their school is that it didn't support them and kinda sucked. So yeah, if they made it through and are in residency, they made it past the bull**** and DO=MD, and most MDs nowadays would agree with that. But when you hear all about how some of these schools don't support their students or provide good training, why, as an old curmudgeonly MD program director, would you take the risk on a DO compared to the MD student that's just as qualified?
3) On the flip side, I don't really know how competitive your stats are for med school apps, because it's been a while,and I obviously only have an n=1. If it were going DO at your straight-shot program vs an iffy chance of matching elsewhere, I'd take the slot. But it sounds like others are saying you should at least match DO elsewhere, and beefing up your MCAT and clinical hours could make you an awesome candidate for a lot of MD schools. Yes, it's more stress to do the application cycle, but I highly recommend it in order to prepare yourself a little for the residency application process, if nothing else. Trust me, medical training has no shortage of stressor. Don't cop out just because there's more stress here. Trust me, it would reduce stress down the line, come residency application season, to (a) have gone through a similar process before and (b) have the MD backing supporting your app.
4) Your race and sex, while they may create annoying situations with patients and biased employers in the future, really have no place in the discussion. Those will not change, and the degree won't really modify them at all, in my experience - the people who will discriminate against you for being female won't stop if you're an MD. Also, being female should not hurt in the application process, if you're worried about that. Just as with URM applicants, there's been a decades-long push to accept more female applicants to med school, which has succeeded. I think the med school pool is now slightly more F than M.
5) Yes, some lay people won't think you're a real doctor if you're a DO (see Trump's doctor). MD is pretty universally recognized. It could be annoying to correct people, but most DOs I talk to don't seem to get it that often and aren't too bugged by it. There are also plenty of people who will put a target on your back as a doc (MD or DO) and praise nurses, or midlevels, or naturopaths, or whoever they (for whatever reason) think is better, so there is no way to escape it entirely anyway. But if it's a huge annoyance for you / an ego thing, then yes, MD is a bit nicer not to have the annoyance. Shouldn't be a huge part of the equation, but if it's a small part of the equation for you, that's fine. Everyone has an ego (myself included; it was a part of the equation for me), and you do you.
6) Others have mentioned taking some time off for personal growth. If you're at all trepidatious about going in now, I'd agree to take the time off. In addition to bolstering your app, clinical hours can be useful to figure out ideas for your future specialty, or even if medicine is right for you. You want to be pretty sure, because it's a loooong pathway that requires a hell of a lot of dedication and sacrifice. And it's hard to turn back once you get that first semester tuition bill.
7) When you go to med school admissions interviews, don't say you want to do plastics. Say something more primary care-ish. If it's one of the third year clerkships at the school, it's probably safe (including gen surg, I'd think), but don't say something that subspecialized. I was honest in mine and said ophtho, and even with the caveat that I wasn't sure /was open to anything, I'm pretty sure it hurt me everywhere I went. Just don't do it. Oh, and keep that open to anything part.
Lastly, I know this can be overwhelming at times. Know that many others are in the same or a much worse position than you, and even though it makes things more complicated, it's nice to have these sorts of options as well. Maintain good self care and stay strong!