Knowledge and Awareness of Oculoplastic Surgery among Medical Students

There has been a gap in the literature regarding the knowledge of health-care workers, including medical students, on the speciality of oculoplasty. In this study, we aimed to assess the perception and knowledge of oculoplasty among medical students.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students at King Abdulaziz University during the months of June 2018 and September 2018. Data were collected using a selfadministered questionnaire.

This study involved 625 medical students from the second to sixth-year levels. The highest number of participants was from the third year 185 (29.6%). Most of the medical students 381 (61.0%), did not know about the training required to become an oculoplastic surgeon, and only 50 (8.0%) were interested in-the speciality as a career. Ptosis was the most identified condition by medical students to be treated by oculoplastic-surgeons, 316 (50.56%), and entropion was the least, 86 (13.76%). Less than one third, 177 (28.3%) of the medical students disagreed regarding oculoplastic surgery as it is very risky. The most important source of information for oculoplastic surgery was ‘social media,’ 258 (41.28%); and the least effective was ‘magazines,’ 20 (3.2%). The mean (SD) knowledge score for all respondents was 3.61 (2.18%).

Medical students lack proper knowledge-in the field of oculoplasty. This is related to the lack of exposure to the speciality in various areas including medical-rotations, conferences, and summer training. This has contributed to the lack of interest in pursuing a future career in oculoplasty.