The curriculum is modeled after the Guidelines for fellowship training set forth by the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Office Based and Operative Experience
Fellows learn to evaluate patients and perform medical and surgical therapeutic decision-making under the supervision of the attending surgeons. Proper utilization and interpretation of office based diagnostic tests as well as dacryocystograms, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, and ultrasonography is taught.
Surgical training encompasses hands-on experience under close supervision, for a large volume of surgical case types. A wide variety of ophthalmological and related disorders are encountered, including congenital, functional, neoplastic, traumatic, and reconstructive. Cosmetic techniques are emphasized.
An apprenticeship paradigm is followed, with the fellow having immediate supervision available in the clinics, the surgical suite, and during on-call patient management.
Supervised Teaching Experience and Didactics
The fellow evaluates patients and recommends patient management plans under the supervision of the program faculty. Experience is gained with pre-operative, post-operative, and post-traumatic care, as well as non-operative and medically managed patients .
The fellow contributes didactic lectures once monthly throughout the year, covering the evaluation, diagnosis, and management of patients with ophthalmic plastic, orbital, and reconstructive needs. Additionally, the fellow contributes to one or more instructional courses given annually by the program faculty at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meetings.