If you are interested in becoming a vision correction, cornea specialist, this is a great time to enter the cornea specialist field. Conditions like cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, vision correction, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, dry eyes, corneal edema, keratoconus, etc. have increased in severity.
Training to be a cornea specialist: vision correction doctors.
The US is estimated to be short of more than 16,000 primary care doctors and a bigger shortage of cornea specialists is expected by the year 2015. To become a cornea specialist, students will have to complete a master’s degree followed with a medical degree. This has to be followed by a postgraduate or MD degree and a PhD degree in ophthalmology, vision correction, and corneal medicine. Most cornea specialist students take about 10 — 14 years to complete their education and they do follow this up with a fellowship in corneal refractive surgery. Once the students complete their education, they can work at a hospital as cornea specialists. The median salary for cornea specialist surgeons according to the American Medical Group Association is more than $370,000.00 per year but this of course depends on experience and education.
The demand for trained cornea specialists is already there but it will take time until newly trained specialists can enter the field. To deal with the growing demand, most countries have started encouraging professional education in medicos and paramedical staff as well. Task delegation to trained paramedical staff has also increased and there is a very good chance that ophthalmic paramedics may be trained to perform simple surgical tasks. This will free up time for more surgeons to become specialized cornea specialists like Dr. John Goosey with the knowledge and skills to deal with higher-level complicated surgeries.
