Quoted: No vision in one eye and medical school

[Doodledog]

Hi,
I was born completely blind in my left eye. It has never been a significant factor in my life as I have never stopped myself from any activity because of this. I do not drive but that is mostly because of my location. I know that by my states rules I am legally allowed to drive because the rules indicate that you need one working eye to drive as far as i can tell. I am not mentioning this anywhere on my application. my premed dean is aware and is also not mentioning it anywhere as per my request. She did tell me that I need to tell my dean/adviser as soon as i start medical school though. I am worried that if and when I do that they can kick me out or something. i am just worried that I will be told that I cannot practice medicine or be a doctor. I do meet the technical standards. I do not have depth perception in the way that people with 2 eyes do, but I have spent my entire life like this and compensate in other ways to determine depths. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Medicine has always been my dream. Thank you

First of all, it will not come up in your interview unless you mention it in the application and interview. Second, I am personally aware of a current medical student (and an attending) with the identical condition and it has never been an issue and I do not believe it ever will be.

Handle the situation in a way you are comfortable with but you will be able to go to medical school and be a physician. Assuming you do well on your MCAT.

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[DrJosephKim]

You may face some challenges during your surgery rotation if you're asked to cut sutures and you lack depth perception. In those cases, get advice from your senior residents. There are several tips that can really be helpful.

 

[Regnvejr]

We have blind physicians, even. So while not broadcasting the issue to the world, it should not be a hindrance to you becoming a physician. The ones who need to know, will, especially if you request it and remarks that you don't want pity or special treatment or whatnot, respect this. They might discuss special concerns in special situations with you, but I don't see any special problem.

 

[loren646]

dude i understand totally.

i have 2 working eyes but vision in 1 eye is really terrible that for some reason - my brain shuts it off at times - like it works but i dont see anything out of it and thus lose depth perception - etc.

i keep it on the dl. i've had surgery but i never mention it.

 

[RepairTech]

If you're a lifelong monocular, I see no problems. Yes that's me stunting away on one of my many motorcycles in my avatar, that's the first time I did that move at less than freeway speed, I had trouble explaining it to my English-as-a-second-language co-workers so I said, "Come out to the parking lot; I'll show you".

I'm a lifelong monocular myself.

I used to work long ago as a vet assistant, and unless there's something about removing sutures I don't know, which is possible, it won't be a problem to someone adapted to a lifetime with no binocular vision. I'm familiar with the picky work of cutting/removing Ethilon sutures, size 0 and down, in discontinuous knots. Grip an end with hemo's, pull outward a bit, and snip the loop, remove. I've been stitched up myself and it was the same stuff, same procedure. A person losing an eye as an adult has a real problem, enough that there are books about it. But us lifetime monoculars, we develop all kinds of compensations and get along OK. Myself, training in EMS, I'm most worried about being allowed to drive an ambulance. But as a doctor, you won't have to drive one of those. I'd say color vision or absence thereof, near/far sightedness, things like that are much more of an issue. I'd not worry about it.