The advantage of residency training is that a seasoned attending ophthalmologist is sitting right next to you, giving advice, teaching techniques, and even rescuing you if need be. In this setting it is easier to learn phaco chop because of these mentors. However, even surgeons in solo practice can still learn to perform phaco chop. And it is one of the most common requests that I receive. While I don’t have the bandwidth to give everyone direct one-on-one advice, videos like this really will help. This resident has done about 120 cases total and this is the first case where phaco chop is being attempted. Undoubtedly, stop-and-chop was done for many cases prior to this to become familiar with the concept of chopping. The result is very good, however from this same resident we will show phaco chop case number 3 next week and it is not as good. That’s normal and the nature of learning a new skill. Tenacity and persistence.
