Stereo vision 80 seconds of arc "good enough" for Ophtho?

[big study]

Hello everyone,

I am wishing you all the best of luck when it comes to matching in ophthalmology here within a couple of weeks! I have a question I'd love some feedback. I hope to match to Ophthalmology come this time next year. I want to make absolutely sure I have the eyes for it.

I had Strabismus as a child with a corrective surgery. I had a eye exam done recently with stereopsis of 80 sec of arc. I have worked under microscopes for hours at a time on multiple occasions without noticing any favoring of one eye over the other or headaches thereafter.

I am at the spot now in med school where I could change my chosen career field if it is the best thing to do. I would love your input.
I have also considered anesthesia...

Any and all advice that you could give me is welcome.

Is my stereo vision good enough to be an Ophthalmologist?
***Please PM me if you wish***

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[docta9]

If you work under the microscope, see if you can suture a ripped surgical glove. If so, maybe you could do strabismus surgery? Or neuro-ophthalmology.

 

[rgll]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26476669/

I don't know if this answers your question, but it might shed some light on the topic. Disclaimer: I only read the abstract because I don't have access to the full paper.

 

[big study]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26476669/

I don't know if this answers your question, but it might shed some light on the topic. Disclaimer: I only read the abstract because I don't have access to the full paper.

Thank you for finding this. In return please enjoy access to the complete paper. I am willing to believe 80 seconds of arc paired with a strong acuity and many committed hours in the wet lab will hopefully produce a fine eye surgeon. I am super grateful right now!

 

[DrZeke]

Thank you for finding this. In return please enjoy access to the complete paper. I am willing to believe 80 seconds of arc paired with a strong acuity and many committed hours in the wet lab will hopefully produce a fine eye surgeon. I am super grateful right now!

This is very interesting. However, think very hard about whether or not you want to go through a residency with a steep learning curve and a known disadvantage. When you come forward with that stereovision when operating with attendings, they may not be sympathetic or helpful. They might know how to help you or they may just get frustrated. I have perfect stereo and it's all hard enough as it is.
I don't mean to be a negative nancy, but this article doesn't mean residency will be easier on you or that it's a good idea or that you can succeed. It is hopeful, but When going through a residency I don't wanna know that there's a real possibility I'll have to switch to another specially because I know from day one that I may be incapable of achieving something. Sure sometimes things don't work out and people switch, but I would just really put a lot of though into whether or not you wanna go through this kind of stress. How important is it to do Ophtho and will you be happy if you find out 3 years into residency that you won't be able to operate?

 

[theeyeman]

This is very interesting. However, think very hard about whether or not you want to go through a residency with a steep learning curve and a known disadvantage. When you come forward with that stereovision when operating with attendings, they may not be sympathetic or helpful. They might know how to help you or they may just get frustrated. I have perfect stereo and it's all hard enough as it is.
I don't mean to be a negative nancy, but this article doesn't mean residency will be easier on you or that it's a good idea or that you can succeed. It is hopeful, but When going through a residency I don't wanna know that there's a real possibility I'll have to switch to another specially because I know from day one that I may be incapable of achieving something. Sure sometimes things don't work out and people switch, but I would just really put a lot of though into whether or not you wanna go through this kind of stress. How important is it to do Ophtho and will you be happy if you find out 3 years into residency that you won't be able to operate?

Show me a poor surgeon with poor stereo and I will show you a poor surgeon. Nobody has ever shown a correlation. You can't show any data to prove 80 sec of arc has any impact on surgical skills. His type of completely unfounded information and advice comes from people closing one eye and thinking they are reproducing the environment that someone without measurable stereo sees. That just isn't true. These people use other adaptations to adjust. I have known a number of very good ophthalmic surgeons with poor or no stereo.

 

[DrZeke]

Show me a poor surgeon with poor stereo and I will show you a poor surgeon. Nobody has ever shown a correlation. You can't show any data to prove 80 sec of arc has any impact on surgical skills. His type of completely unfounded information and advice comes from people closing one eye and thinking they are reproducing the environment that someone without measurable stereo sees. That just isn't true. These people use other adaptations to adjust. I have known a number of very good ophthalmic surgeons with poor or no stereo.

Did they learn ophthalmic surgery after they developed poor stereo or did they always have it?

 

[monov]

Watching this thread and decided to chime in

I found out on my screening eye exam while applying to ophthalmology that I had poor stereo acuity.

I was later diagnosed with mono fixation syndrome.

I could not read the Randot test past the 4th set.

I tested myself on an operating scope and was able to make out a 3D image, pass a needle, tie a knot, etc.

In residency, I wasn't sure how well I could pick up macular edema at the slit lamp though

Of course, since I never new anything different I didn't know how anything would look different

I excelled surgically in residency and consistently was reviewed as being at or near the top of my class

My lack of perfect stereo acuity did not interfere with my training nor do I feel like it makes me a less capable surgeon

I have less confidence in picking up subtle macular edema on exam but with the availability of OCT this has not been an issue

In my opinion from personal experience, perfect stereo is not necessary to be a good or even great eye surgeon, perhaps with the exception of being a retinal surgeon

Also, I know several excellent ophthalmologist who are also red-green color deficient