Watch This Before Doing Ophthalmology if You Can’t Decide

If you’re on the fence about going into ophthalmology or are wondering if it is the best medical specialty to go into then consider some of the points that I bring up the video regarding whether or not ophthalmology is the best specialty for you. This video is geared for medical students who may be in the fence about going into ophthalmology in general and y help them pick a specialty.

[noahbrown]

Thank you for your advice and guidance! It’s much appreciated. I’m going into my first year of medical school, and while I’m going in with an open mind about specialties, I LOVE ophthalmology!

[KuroYTenshi]

Thank you so much for your videos. I already knew I wanted to become an ophthalmologist when I applied for med school, and that hasn't changed. However, after 4 years (I study in europe, we have 6y of medical school) I do have that concern of "giving up" on medicine. As much as I love the eye, I also love pharmacology and internal medicine subspecialties like rheumatology. Videos like these really help me to organize my thoughts on this.

[LondonNano]

What a great video Zach! Love you expressed your thoughts about the 'giving up medicine' and 'not real surgery' type feelings out there. There are certainly some sub-specialties like uveitis, neuro-ophthalmology and paediatric ophthalmology where you are an integral part of the multidisciplinary team, and internal medics / ENT or Max-Fax Surgeons / paediatricians rely on you especially for your findings. Ophthalmology residents usually find this out on-call when they're running around the hospital examining different patients. By the way, will you be presenting at any academic meetings coming up? Virtually or face-to-face?

[Cello-MD]

Your videos are making our Canadian ophthalmology residency even more competitive, please stop making it! ... Just kidding haha. Great job again for the video. In Canada, ophthalmology has consistently been the #1 most competitive specialty. I'm glad that I've matched before you making it even more competitive. By the way, could you please make a video explaining the difference between a one-year fellowship vs two-years fellowship in oculoplastics? For example, what are the differences in terms of what they can do, and which one would you recommend. Thank you Zach!

[claudioagmfilho]

Wow awesome you’re so right, great vid.
Everything that is microcosmic is maybe harder.
I am also an ophthalmologist, like you, I am a general Ophthalmologist and a cataract surgeon.

[miguelrosales]

Thanks a lot doctor. This was so useful, I'm struggling with this decision.

[Channel-xill]

Thank you so much Doctor, it was very helpful and thorough video!!! You basically answered all the questions in my head

[Gianzzz]

Thank you so much for your videos Zac! You're a great help to us oversea, too! This video puts it in a nutshell!
Could you sometime tell us more about your experience in humanitarian eyecare you mentioned in a previous video? It would be really interesting to know more about it :-)

[drmarhkexplore]

Thanks Dr for Awesome informative videos
I have learning a lot from ur videos
I am fresh graduate & as a internee at hospital at ophthalmology rotation inspire me a lot I have feel more interested in ophthalmology but I have little issue here that my right hand is not that strong like I can't hold things strongly with right hand due to Accident trauma injury & now I only like ophthalmology to pursue in coming future
please guide me need ur guidance thanks...

[heronmaximo]

Man, in this video you look so openhearted and that made you look so hot. Hahahaha. Btw thanks for the video. I am currently an emergency doctor and I love it. I chose working in this field before apply to my real dream (ophthalmology) because I wish to taste what is like being a doctor that "save lives". But sincerely... I feel that as a ophthalmologist I will continue saving lives... and this video just confirmed me. Thanks!

[ruchircms]

Hi Zach! Love your videos!! I’m a first year US MD student. Very fascinated by ophthalmology. One thing I have a hard time deciding is whether I would like doing procedures and surgery. It is hard to know since I haven’t actually done either of those, just seen others doing it. Do you have any advice on how I could get a sense of whether that is something I am interested in/would be good at? Thank you!

[jacobvillarama]

Do you think it gets old just doing cataracts surgeries all the time as a general ophthalmologist? I’ve done some shadowing and I’m worried there won’t be much variety, unless you also do a fellowship. Thanks for all the great content! It really helps!

[alessandrogianni]

Thank you very much for the content! I’m an Italian doctor and I’m trying to make up my mind and choose my future specialty. I’ve always been into “clinical” specialties instead of “surgical” ones, but just recently I’ve had the chance to attend the ophthalmology clinic and surgery. Unexpectedly, I loved the surgery, even more than the clinic, so I’m very confused right now. I’ve never thought of myself as a surgeon, yet I find eye procedures so fascinating and challenging.
About the clinical specialties, I like the intellectual challenge of diagnosing the right disease before treating it. Do you think I can find much of this challenge in ophthalmology too? Or is it just a faster and more straightforward clinical field? Thank you 😊

[youhanamarc]

What can you do while you are a first year Medical student to be more competitive to match for ophthalmology residency?

[tikipalm]

You mentioned your indigent patients who do not have access to good healthcare, do you have an idea as to why this is happening? I am concerned for them. Are they not able to apply for assistance like with Medicaid or any other local government funding? Sorry I realize this is going off topic but wondering why they are falling through the cracks. Great video by the way, always look forward to them 👍

[feyzaeroglu]

Optho is really technology based specialty that allows you to learn new things every day. My question is, when you prescribing eye glasses to patients most of the time, you still feel that impact on someone's life? After 10 years in the field, if I get bored of my specialty, what will I do? That scares me.

[Kittendoc]

What kind of step score did you and your classmates that matched optho think was “safe” to match?

[miime]

Hello, your videos are amazing ! I can’t see myself doing anything else but Opthalmology, i’ve passed my residency exam Twice (we are tested about what we’ve seen in 7years of medical school, it’s one exam in a year ) and couldn’t get the score in both times... what should i do please ? Try more for the 3rd year or just give up trying and take another speciality ?

[akashgupta]

Thank you for this. I love ophtho but when I tried suturing on a pig eye for the 1st time everything felt so small and magnified that it was so difficult that I felt like I'd never be able to learn. Do you get used to this and better at it with time? It just feels like one tiny wrong move can make someone blind which is scary.

[shanth]

Hi, I was just wondering really how competitive opthalmology really is? I look up this question a plethora of times but never really get a definitive answer. How many people per year do they take in?