Reasons I love ophthalmology
I get asked a lot why I chose ophthalmology. Truthfully, the initial reason I chose it was because multiple family friends (including an ophthalmologist) told me it was the best field and that they recommended it. I also really loved one of the ophtho residents and one of the medical students I worked with in medical school and that sort of solidified the decision. But now that I am actually an ophthalmologist there are so many reasons I love it. In no particular order:
1. Work in an office setting. I always knew I preferred being in an office rather than a hospital.
2. We wear so many hats. In ophtho you can see kids and you can see adults. We prescribe medications and we do surgery. We are even radiologists in a way - we read and interpret OCTs, fundus photos, fluorescein angiograms, and even CT scans of the eye and orbit. We even do our own eye ultrasounds.
3. Making a difference. In ophtho there are so many instances where we can truly improve peoples’s vision and improve their quality of life. And when we do that the patients are so grateful and happy, and that makes me happy!
4. Being an expert in one field. This to me was more preferable than knowing a little bit about everything.
5. Variety. In a given day I could see patients with cataract, diabetes, eye trauma, pink eye, glaucoma, macular degeneration, tearing, a stye, and the list goes on. We see unusual and wacky things too like syphilis in the eye or ocular melanoma. I don’t tend to be bored during the day.
6. Eye surgery is fun. It sounds like a weird analogy but it’s almost like playing a video game. In cataract surgery you look through a microscope, open up a shell around a cataract (the “capsule”), break the cataract into small pieces, and aspirate it out. All through a 2.4 millimeter opening!
7. We can diagnose so many things right in the exam room by looking at someone’s eye under the microscope. It’s not like other fields where you need to get blood work or a CT scan for almost every single thing.
8. Getting to know my patients. I love this aspect of ophtho. It is not a field where I see someone once and never see them again. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. The patients I’ve gotten to know have truly enriched my life. I’ve learned so much from them.
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