Training

After matching for ophthalmology residency at Storm Eye, there are three options for the PGY1 Intern/Resident.

• General Surgery: A modified surgery internship schedule with up to 3 months of ophthalmology rotations.
• Internal Medicine: An internship schedule that focuses on Internal Medicine with up to 2 months of ophthalmology rotations.
• Transitional Year (TY): Trident/MUSC TY program with up to 4 months of ophthalmology rotations.

The first year of residency at Storm Eye Institute is an exciting year divided into four rotations of three months each with some early OR exposure.

• General (with Pediatric) Clinic: PGY2 Residents participate in the general ophthalmology clinic and begin to see patients and perform in clinic procedures under the supervision of attending physicians with additional exposure to uveitis patients. The first year also spends two half-days in the pediatric ophthalmology clinic with exposure to ROP rounds every Thursday.
• Cornea Clinic: PGY2 Residents get their early OR experience with the cornea attending physicians. As the primary resident on this rotation residents will be familiar with IOL selection, refractive procedures, opportunities to perform YAG capsulotomies, and perform and assist in surgeries, including portions of cataract surgery.
• Oculoplastics with Neuro-ophthalmology: PGY2 Residents work one-on-one with our Oculoplastics and Neuro-ophthalmology specialists. There is extensive exposure to both in-office and OR procedures as well a wide variety of pathology cases.
• VA and Retina Clinic: Residents will have great exposure with glaucoma, comprehensive, retina, and resident procedure clinics at the VA. Residents have opportunities to perform SLT, PRP, intravitreal injection, lid lesion excision, and botox injections

The second year of residency begins with strong surgical experience.

• VA: This busy clinical service is balanced by one surgery day per week. PGY3 Residents build their surgical logs as primary surgeon. Additionally, there is a half day for minor procedures such as Botox injections, eyelid and adnexal biopsies, and laser surgery such as SLT and YAG capsulotomies. The majority of the surgical cases will be cataracts.
• Retina: The PGY3 is the primary resident on the retina rotation, dividing their time between our two vitreoretinal specialists. The retina clinics provide exposure to wide-ranging pathology. There is experience in performing pan-retinal photocoagulation, focal lasers, laser retinopexy for tears, and intravitreal injections. Resident will perform port placements, core vitrectomy, and assist in phacovitrectomy cases.
• Consults: PGY3 Residents are responsible for inpatient adult and pediatric consults. During this rotation the PGY3 resident will experience cataract surgery as the primary surgeon.
• Pediatrics: The PGY3 Resident participates in busy clinics where the basics of pediatric ophthalmology are learned with the fellow and attendings including ROP clinic. There are three surgery days shared with retina fellows under attending supervision. Residents will hone their skills of surgical planning and executing start to finish cases on this rotation.

The PGY4 year concentrates on perfecting surgical skills.

• General Clinic: The role of the PGY4 Resident is primarily to back up the PGY3 Resident and to perform the surgeries produced from clinic. Primarily comprised of cataract surgeries, select cases are also performed with the cornea and the general resident is responsible for all daytime trauma cases.
• VA: PGY4 Residents perform the majority of cataract surgeries on two dedicated surgery days per week.
• VA/Elective: PGY4 Residents rotate at the VA in both the clinic and OR. Surgeries are primarily for cataracts. This rotation has flexibility for concentrating on special interests during the days not spent at the VA.
• Glaucoma Clinic: The PGY4 Resident is the primary resident on this rotation. Surgical and laser glaucoma procedures easily exceed ACGME minimums

• Cataract Surgery: Average 260, range: 214-290
• Femtosecond Laser Cataract Surgery (FLACS): Average 10
• Refractive Surgery: Average 8, range: 7-10 (PRK, LASIK)
• Keratoplasty: 1-2 Primary/ 8 to 17 Assistant 
• Glaucoma Surgery: Average 15, range: 9-28 (Trabeculectomy, tube shunts)
• Retina Surgery: Average 35 (PPV), range:17-61 
• Strabismus Surgery: Average 25, range: 12-37
• Oculoplastic Surgery: Average 65, range: 52-90
• Open Globe Surgery: Average 8, range: 4-16. 
• Laser Surgery: Yage: Average 35, Panretinal Photocoagulation: 15, SLT: 100, LRI: 8,
• Intravitreal Injections: Average 70, range 43-120

Every Friday afternoon from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. is dedicated to academics with mandatory attendance by all residents except for the on-call team. Typically, there are three lectures given by attendings.  

Weekly resident-led lecture which include faculty and senior resident presentation covering high-yield review material. 

Tuesdays at 7 a.m. in the 8th floor auditorium or virtually, these include presentations by attendings, researchers, and guest presenters. Residents are required to present two grand rounds per academic year. 

Once a month, residents, attendings, and members of the Charleston ophthalmology community come together for a fun night of dining and education. Typically, three articles are presented by residents for a Socratic discussion in a social atmosphere. 

Invited speakers and our own faculty will provide update on cutting-edge research in ophthalmology. Second and third year residents will present mystery cases at Ultimate Grand Rounds. We welcome back our alumni for this special event. 

The Belinda C. Barker surgical training suite is a state of the art wet lab equipped with two operating microscopes with integrated overhead flat screen displays to allow others to watch, learn, and instruct. 

There are several formal wet labs presented throughout the year led by senior residents and faculty. These include suturing, corneal transplantation, management of glob trauma, eyelid surgery, cataract surgery (including phaco and MSICS), placement of MIGS devices including the iStent inject and Xen gel stent, placement of retinal trocars, and retinal lasering tutorials. 

In addition, the wet lab is available 24/7 for any interested resident to learn on their own. We have easy access to pig eyes as well as training model to hone your surgical techniques.