Though one of the top 10 happiest physician specialties, ophthalmologists are still in short supply.
Here are 11 figures and stats ophthalmologists should know:
- There are 18,948 total active ophthalmologists in the country, according to the Association of American Medical College's "2022 Physician Specialty Data Report."
- Among active ophthalmologists, 17,528 specialize in patient care, 142 in teaching and 125 in research.
- Male ophthalmologists number 13,786 (72.8 percent), and 5,152 (27.2 percent) are women.
- There are 17,235 people per active ophthalmologist.
- Las Vegas is the best paying city for ophthalmologists of any experience level, regardless of practice setting, at an average yearly salary of $456,784.
- Ophthalmologists are the seventh-happiest physician specialists in 2023, with 62 percent describing themselves as either happy or very happy outside of the workplace.
- Only 3 percent of ophthalmologists report feeling depressed, while 19 percent report feeling burned out and depressed.
- About 40 percent of ophthalmologists believe that COVID-19 somewhat impacted their work-life happiness in the last year, while 30 percent felt significantly impacted.
- The top contributing factor (67 percent) to ophthalmologist depression is burnout at work. However, over half (55 percent) of ophthalmologists believe their depression does not impact patient interactions.
- Only about 10 percent of counties in the U.S. have a pediatric ophthalmologist. Of 3,142 U.S. counties, 2,828, or 90 percent, do not have a pediatric ophthalmologist.
- Cataract surgery cost an average of $3,500 to $7,000 per eye in 2022.