Cornea & Refractive Surgery review @ MN Eye Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

• 18 months

• Phaco training included in the program.

• Based on your SICS skills, you get to start phaco training early, even as early as 2nd month (this means they give you SICS in the 1st month itself).

• They take on need basis, selection is by interview.

• You are trained by whoever is most experienced surgeon at the time- this can be a 3rd yr PG, but if they have passed out then it will be the seniormost fellow training you.

• Lots and lots of camp cases and consultants operate only on private cases so camp OT falls on the PGs and fellows to finish.

• You get to operate on all kinds of cataract.

• Clinical exposure of cornea cases is good, lots of diff ulcers- it can get tiresome after a while.

• Surgical hands-on: you will be posted in another Chennai centre of the same hospital 2-3 times a week where you will get hands-on for diff refractive procedures like trans-PRK, SMILE, LASIK, Femto LASIK- here Dr Nishant (Cornea head) trains you.

• You will also be started on keratoplasties in the early months- you start step wise- putting few corneal sutures, then suture the whole cornea, then you will do the trephining and all other steps etc 

• You get to observe lamellar surgeries, although they are less in number, but Nishant sir is proactive in helping you learn it in wet lab.

• Work is not very hectic, unless the PGs are less for any reason, work finishes by 7 pm max.

• Night duties are shared with PGs, Sunday camp duties usually not there for fellows unless the PGs are not available (eg if exam-going)

• Enucleation calls have to be attended by the Cornea fellow.

• Workwise it is a bit hectic but there is no toxicity.

• Disclosure - this hospital also trains many short term trainees for phaco every month which include foreign candidates, but the fellow's surgical chances are never compromised for this reason.

• In fact, since it's the senior PG or Fellow who trains the short-termers, the hospital is eager that their long term fellows master cataract at the earliest, so your surgical chances start early.