Surgery??? Please help!

[FutureDoc86]

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Question: Came to LOVE Ophtho in my third year. Made great connections and research and rotated through it. I love medical retina and uveitis, the nonsurgical fields of Ophthalmology. However, I don't really like procedures or surgery because I don't feel like im that good with my hands. Trying to learn to suture on Gen Surg was painful! Hated being in the OR in surgery and on OB (although i know surgery and ob are totally different types of surgery) Is it worth it to suck it up for three years to end up doing something I love?
THANKS! Please answer quickly!

 

[MstaKing10]

Even medical retina docs do intraocular injections and laser procedures. Would that be something you are able to handle? I would be interested to hear Visionary's opinion.

 

[Visionary]

Even medical retina docs do intraocular injections and laser procedures. Would that be something you are able to handle? I would be interested to hear Visionary's opinion.

Since you asked....😀

Unlike the OP, I never felt particularly uncomfortable with surgery and, according to my attendings, I was actually rather good at it. A few of them chastised me for "wasting my talents" by not pursuing a surgical fellowship. Oh, well. I've mentioned before that surgery was either boring or stressful to me, depending on how the case was going. I don't really miss it.

That said, even injections and lasers require a certain degree of hand-eye coordination and precision. It's hard to know if you'll be good at microsurgery, until you get some experience at it. Honestly, I was not unlike the OP, in that I went after ophthalmology because of a sincere interest in the field. I never really thought about whether I would be a good surgeon. I just was intrigued by the eye and all that can go wrong with such a tiny organ!

As far as time dedicated to surgery, ophthalmology does not have much. Cases tend to be short, and the majority of your time is spent in clinic. I wasn't crazy about certain aspects of my residency training, but neither was I totally into every aspect of med school!

To the OP, I say go for it, if you have a sincere interest. You can always try and tailor your training, in order to pursue something like med ret or uveitis.