Before doing this internship, I had wanted to be an ophthalmologist, specifically a retina specialist, which is why I chose to intern at the Ochsner Eye Center. I enjoyed all of the sections of ophthalmology I saw (glaucoma, cornea, retina, neuro, pediatrics, and optometry), but my time spent in the retina department was my favorite part of the internship and only confirmed my interest in becoming a retina specialist many years in the future.
On Tuesday, I followed a technician, Jessica, for a while in the retina department. She taught me more about how to use the slit lamp, and she even let me do a pupillary exam on a few nice patients! Later that day, I shadowed the head retina specialist, Dr. Mazzulla, as he examined patients and injected some others’ eyes. He also looked at some photos of a patient’s retina and showed me where he had done surgery to reattach it, which was very cool!
For the rest of the week, I have followed a neuro-ophthalmologist, Dr. Lawton, and observed Ms. Erica (my primary mentor) as she went through her daily job as manager of the eye center. Tomorrow, for my last day, I will shadow in retina again. All in all, I have loved this internship. I have gotten to see almost all of the different subspecialties of ophthalmology (except oculoplastics) from the perspectives of a manager, technicians, and physicians. This internship gave me a great overview of the field as a whole and made me even more enthusiastic about pursuing a career in ophthalmology.
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