Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship

At the time of appointment, the trainee should have satisfactorily completed 36 months of residency training in a United States program approved by the Residency Review Committee in Ophthalmology and accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, or in a Canadian program approved by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or in an equivalent program. Texas Medical Licensure is mandatory.

We participate in the San Francisco Match for Ophthalmic Plastics and Reconstructive Fellowship. Please refer to the SF Match website to register for the match.

Program Contact:

Robin Caldwell
robinc@bcm.edu

The Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship at the Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, is designed as a comprehensive two-year program dedicated to the preparation of the post-residency fellow for an academic or consultative ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive and orbital surgical practice. The fellow will divide time between Drs. Michael Yen, Katherine Williams, and Debra Shetlar and gain hands-on experience in the preoperative evaluation, performance and postoperative care of the full spectrum of eyelid, lacrimal and orbital surgical procedures.

These will include blepharoplasty, blepharoptosis repair, eyebrow and forehead elevation, entropion and ectropion repair, dacryocystorhinostomy, orbital surgery and optic nerve sheath decompression. Additionally, the fellow will learn to manage infectious and inflammatory eyelid and orbital conditions such as thyroid eye disease and idiopathic orbital inflammation. The fellow will participate in resident education and in a monthly ophthalmic plastic surgery conference. Research is strongly encouraged.

The fellows see and work up at least 150 patients each week with a spectrum of ophthalmic plastic, lacrimal and orbital conditions in adults and children. All of these cases are seen under the supervision of the attending physician, with fellows presenting their findings to the physician for review and discussion of an implementation of a treatment plan. The fellow's surgical experience includes serving as the primary surgeon in cases performed at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Ben Taub Hospital. These include the full spectrum of ophthalmic plastic, lacrimal and orbital disorders. In addition, fellow's surgical experience will include at least 400 eyelid and eyebrow surgeries, 100 lacrimal surgeries, and 100 orbital surgeries.

In addition to instruction by senior staff members on the management of each individual patient seen by the fellow, the Department of Ophthalmology holds a number of ongoing and special conferences. These include Grand Rounds, lecture series, pathology conference, wet labs on various surgical techniques, and courses, including a cadaver orbital dissection course, a botulinum toxin injection course, and the Cullen Course, which is an overview of new advances in ophthalmology oriented to ophthalmologists in practice.

Fellows additionally have the opportunity to work in conjunction with the Neurosurgery, Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, and Dermatology for complex multidisciplinary management including skull base/orbital tumors and complex reconstruction.

The department comprises full-time clinical and research faculty members, principally located in the Alkek Eye Center in the Jamail Specialty Care Center. This also houses five eye operating rooms, laser suites exclusively for Ophthalmology, the Baylor College of Medicine Aesthetics practice, and an office surgical suite.

The department additionally has the Roy and Lillie Cullen Eye Institute Neurosensory center with multiple research laboratories; vivarium; and experimental animal surgical laboratory.  

Additionally, within the Texas Medical Center are Ben Taub General Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which are staffed by residents in the training program with assistance from the Oculoplastics Fellow and Attendings.