Vold Vision Anterior Segment Fellowship: Glaucoma, Cornea, Cataract, Refractive

[VV_Fellow]

I'm the current Advanced Anterior Segment fellow at Vold Vision in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

I wanted to share my experience during this 1 year fellowship covering the entire anterior segment

(**NOTE: Scroll down to see my surgical numbers, over 1670 PRIMARY surgeries and procedures this year)

I am in the OR a TON, with minimal call, including no trauma...period.

Leaving residency, I was torn between an academic and a private practice fellowship. I enjoyed the opportunities research provided, but wanted to learn how to run a private practice and operate in the world outside of academia. I also wanted a fellowship that would provide top-notch surgical training in as broad of an area as I could find in one year.

After interviewing at the top programs across the country in cornea, cataract, and refractive last year, I realized there was a huge range in the type of surgical experience you get as a fellow. Some places offered good volume for cornea, while others offered merely cataract and/or refractive. Few offered both, and none offered that plus glaucoma.

I stumbled upon the fellowship at Vold Vision, and realized I had found a goldmine. This being the inaugural year of the fellowship, there was not any talk about it. When I interviewed, I realized this could be a career-changing opportunity. Not only Does Dr. Steven Vold perform possibly the most MIGS in the country, but his associate, Dr. George Tanaka, is a well known glaucoma specialist recently relocated from San Francisco, who does a lot of complex glaucoma as well as MIGS

To top it off, Dr. Vold does over 100 eyes a month of refractive surgery. Most of my surgeries are in a 4k, 3-D Heads up display using the INGENUITY system (formerly TruVision)

In addition to an incredible surgical experience, the practice is involved in over 10 clinical trials currently, including new IOLs and MIGS devices, and has its own research department. This gives amazing opportunities to collaborate with industry. Every day there are people coming to observe surgery.


This fellowship is one of maybe two in the country that has the entire spectrum of anterior segment training. I mean EVERYTHING. Cornea, Glaucoma (including a TON of MIGS), Cataract, Refractive, and Dry Eye / Ocular Surface.


My PRIMARY surgical numbers thus far :

Refractive Cataract
Phaco - 506
LenSX - 242
ORA - 104

Refractive Surgery (all flaps made on VISUMAX)
LASIK/PRK - 180
SMILE - 1 (certification in process)

Cornea
DMEK - 15
PKP - 20
DSAEK - 15
Pterygium - 30

MIGS+:
Xen - 30
IStent (G1 and Inject) - 11
Hydrus - 3 (certification in process)
KDB - 25
GATT/OMNI - 32
Micropulse - 4
Cypass - 8

TRADITIONAL GLAUCOMA:
Valves - 20
Trabs - 8
Trab revisions - 4
CPC - 10


Procedures
YAG Cap - 250
YAG LPI - 8
SLT - 62

Dry Eye
IPL - 66
Lipiflow - 5
Punctal Cautery - 15


Grand Total: 1670 PRIMARY surgeries and procedures!
Cataract/Femto/ORA 852
Cornea 80
Glaucoma 152
Refractive 181
Procedures 320
Dry Eye 86


PM me with any questions

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[salami bahama]

Sounds like a great fellowship! Would you make your profile available for messaging? Thanks so much!

 

[VV_Fellow]

Sounds like a great fellowship! Would you make your profile available for messaging? Thanks so much!

Sorry about that! You should be able to now -- please lmk if it didn't work

 

[EyeNerd2.0]

Hi Everyone,
As the new fellow at Vold Vision this year, I wanted to update the thread. I'm 3 weeks into my fellowship training and have already logged over 50 primary cases. I'm doing phaco, lasers, MIGS, and corneal surgery. We're doing tubes, bleb revisions, draining choroidals, fixating IOLs. By the end of the year, I anticipate being confident doing any of the commonly performed surgeries within glaucoma and cornea, as well as a skilled and experienced cataract and refractive surgeon who can handle just about anything a cataract might decide to throw my way.

Fellowship training experiences that combine rigorous glaucoma training with comprehensive exposure to anterior segment surgery are exceptionally rare, and this fellowship provides just that! This is a fantastic fellowship for anyone looking for a high-volume surgical experience in a positive training environment with great support staff and excellent mentorship. Also, we have an amazing clinical research team, so there are tons of opportunities to get involved in research and it would be totally feasible to submit abstracts to ASCRS and/or AGS. Seriously, there is not another fellowship like this!

The current fellowship mentors are Dr Steven Vold and Dr George Tanaka, both glaucoma fellowship trained. Dr Tanaka is a very experienced glaucoma specialist who really has a fantastic grasp of everything in glaucoma, from the newer MIGS procedures to the more traditional tube/trab stuff. Dr Vold is a uniquely gifted individual who preceded Ike Ahmed as the Chief Medical Editor of Glaucoma Today. Like Dr Tanaka, Dr Vold has been a leader in the world of MIGS and interventional glaucoma. However, Dr Vold does everything anterior segment. When he started his practice in NW Arkansas, Dr Vold was the only anterior segment subspecialist in the region, so he visited a colleague to learn to do corneal transplants. He also is a leader in refractive surgery, and one of just a few experienced SMILE surgeons in the entire country.

Definitely check us out on SF Match! As well, here's a link to our newly updated webpage, where you can learn all about me and find out where our former trainees have gone:
Vold Vision Fellowship | Vold Vision

Please feel free to reach out to me at any time, as I would love to interact with future anterior segment specialists and answer any questions you may have about the training experience at our program.

 

[ophthalmologist_tr]

I sent pm
Thanks