updates on oculoplastics job market?

[soonmd1]

Hey guys!
I just matched! totally excited to start (after that pesky thing called intern year is over).
I had 2 questions for you all
1. can anyone comment on the plastics job market? has it changed any within the past couple of years?
2. I am interested in international work...retina is cool but it really limits what I can do for short term mission trips. I was wondering if people who do plastics fellowships still keep in touch with anterior segment ophtho? enough to do cataracts on mission trips?
thanks!!

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[RestoreSight]

Hey guys!
I just matched! totally excited to start (after that pesky thing called intern year is over).
I had 2 questions for you all
1. can anyone comment on the plastics job market? has it changed any within the past couple of years?
2. I am interested in international work...retina is cool but it really limits what I can do for short term mission trips. I was wondering if people who do plastics fellowships still keep in touch with anterior segment ophtho? enough to do cataracts on mission trips?
thanks!!

bump

 

[Wedgebuster]

Hey guys!
I just matched! totally excited to start (after that pesky thing called intern year is over).
I had 2 questions for you all
1. can anyone comment on the plastics job market? has it changed any within the past couple of years?
2. I am interested in international work...retina is cool but it really limits what I can do for short term mission trips. I was wondering if people who do plastics fellowships still keep in touch with anterior segment ophtho? enough to do cataracts on mission trips?
thanks!!

I know one of the higher volume oculoplastics guys in my city does 1-2 days a month of cataracts. It is a tight line you walk though, don't want to tick off your referring comprehensive ophthalmologists.

I would love to hear was some recent grads think of the oculoplastics job market.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Can't give you the recent grad POV. The market is always a little thin. Unless you go to work for a department at a massive referral center, you need to figure that you will need a patient population of 250K+ and a regular referral base of 12-20 generalists--general ophthalmologists and busy, medically-interested optometrists--to make a viable practice. Depending on the population: age mix, local economy and relative affluence with insurance coverage or disposable household income, you might do fine in a smaller community. As far as getting hired (vs starting a practice of your own), you need a decent sized group with a robust referral base to make a go of it (paying your costs and making enough to become an invested partner).

 

[MstaKing10]

N=1 here, but good friend of mine who is a 2nd year oculoplastics fellow is having a really hard time finding a job right now. They are interested in a plastics only job in a larger metropolitan area and so far have had a really hard time finding something. Have entertained several interviews from smaller communities but even those are few and far between. Perhaps limiting themselves by wanting to be in competitive metropolitan area and wanting only to do plastics and no general, but still, I didn't know that job market was that tight. They are totally normal, good interviewer, coming from pretty darn good asoprs fellowship.

 

[thiaeyemd]

to answer the question about doing anterior segment with plastics. Most plastics people who do real plastics (ie orbital work, lacrimal work) don't do anterior segment surgery. No comprehensive people will send them patients if they did. If you trained in plastics and wanted to do anterior segment and then your own plastics in your practice you could but what would end up happening is you would have very little orbit/lacrimal surgery and eventually probably drop it from your practice and just do eyelids (i.e. oculoplastics lite)

 

[Adab]

I did a single year oculofacial plastics fellowship and did not have too difficult of a time finding a job in a region of my choosing with a large metro and a competitive salary. I know for a fact there were other ASOPRS fellows who interviewed but were not selected. I suspect the fact that I was open and eager to maintain a comprehensive practice as well as filling the oculoplastics void of the hiring group made me significantly more marketable. This was a major reason why I chose not to do the 2 year fellowship as I felt I would be giving up significant amounts of core ophthalmology.

Of course it's in your interest to use common sense in dealing with referring physicians, as is the case in all sub-specialties. In large group that doesn't depend on outside ophthalmology referrals, however, it's entirely feasible for the oculoplastics physician to do general eye exams, diabetic eye checks, cataract, lasers, etc so long as limits are followed and patients are taken care of. But each practice setting is different (ie, academics) so it is really a case-by-case basis.

The job market is saturated and of course really depends on location and your desired practice setting. It is certainly not as good as glaucoma or retina, or anterior segment for that matter. I, too, know of recent grads that had a tough time finding a job, and even a tougher time opening up their own oculolplastics solo practice.

 

[RestoreSight]

I've been curious about the oculoplastics market for some time. It seems kinda pinched between plastic surgery, ENT and comprehensive docs who prefer to do their own basic cosmetic procedures. Do oculoplastic docs do better than comprehensives financially? I assume most comprehensive docs can perform blepharoplasty with adequate skill, maybe not true? True facial reconstructive surgery would seem more appropriate for facial ENT surgeons and facelifts/browlifts would be the domain of plastic surgeons. Can anyone comment what a typical ocuplastic case load consists of?

 

[orbitsurgMD]

I've been curious about the oculoplastics market for some time. It seems kinda pinched between plastic surgery, ENT and comprehensive docs who prefer to do their own basic cosmetic procedures. Do oculoplastic docs do better than comprehensives financially? I assume most comprehensive docs can perform blepharoplasty with adequate skill, maybe not true? True facial reconstructive surgery would seem more appropriate for facial ENT surgeons and facelifts/browlifts would be the domain of plastic surgeons. Can anyone comment what a typical ocuplastic case load consists of?

Blepharoplasty, upper and lower
Browlift (endoscopic, direct, mid-forehead, endotine trans-bleph)
Blepharoptosis repair, by levator advancement, tarsoconjunctival resection and brow suspension techniques
Ectropion repair
Entropion repair
Biopsy/ resection carcinomas
Eyelid reconstruction by flap and graft techniques
Conjunctival flaps and grafts
SOOF lifts/ midface lifts
Repair of orbit floor, rim and maxillary arch fractures
Orbit wall decompressions: medial, floor and lateral
Optic nerve sheath decompressions
Fat decompression
Fat grafts
Enucleation/ evisceration, and revisions of same
Trauma repairs
Skin grafting
eyelid reconstruction with autologous and other implant techniques
dacryocystorhinostomy
conjunctivodacryocystorhinostomy
lacrimal probing, balloon dacryoplasties
resection of lacrimal fistulas
orbitotomy for resection of masses, drainage of abscesses
tarsorraphies, lid weight implants


All that is core repertoire. On to that go facial surface and other plastic procedures as training and interest allows.

 

[RestoreSight]

Thanks that's a really succinct list.