Can Surgeons Be Amblyopic?
MAR 03, 2014
Question:
I'm currently studying medicine with an interest in pursuing surgery. However I have amblyopia with 20/20 in one eye and 20/40 in the other eye. I know this impairs your depth perception. My question is whether this will prevent me from operating with surgical loupes in tiny fields where depth perception is quite important. And if so how can this problem be overcome?
Answer:
There are many gifted surgeons that have only one eye or a deficit of depth perception from amblyopia. You can train yourself to use other visual cues to help overcome the absence of binocular vision. Applying this to surgery will take extra vigilance and patience. It may also influence the type of surgery you choose to perform, i.e., selecting a field in which the depth perception requirements are suited to your abilities.