Not every ophthalmologist becomes proficient with phaco chop during residency training and that is acceptable since it can be learned later. However all residents should be able to learn the stop-and-chop technique which is a hybrid between divide-and-conquer and phaco chop. This involves sculpting a single central groove and then cracking the nucleus into halves, each of which can then be chopped and emulsified. I do not routinely perform stop-and-chop but I chose to use it in this case for a specific reason. And also to teach the young surgeons who enjoying learning from CataractCoach.
click to learn the technique of stop-and-chop and see why I chose it for this case:
Great case. Did you adjust the IOL power to account for future vitrectomy?