Suppose we had a few minutes together at a national conference to talk about your retina surgeon search. Before we discussed compensation or wrote a job advertisement, we’d ask: What kind of retina practice are you inviting someone to join or build?
Perhaps you need a surgeon to take over an established patient base as a colleague retires. Perhaps your doctors are sending more retinal detachments and other surgical cases out of the community than you’d like. Or perhaps you’re growing, and the volume of medical retina visits and injections has reached the point where patients and referring physicians need another specialist.
Each situation calls for a different person and a different plan. At OjO Recruitment Agency, we’ve helped ophthalmology practices and physicians find one another nationwide since 2009. Here are the conversations we’d encourage your team to have before you begin recruiting a retina surgeon.
If you’re still working out what the role should look like, talk with our team. We’re glad to share what we’re hearing from retina candidates and practices, even if you haven’t decided whether to use a recruiter.
Why Are Practices Thinking Ahead About Retina Recruitment?
Retina care touches a large and varied group of patients. Researchers estimated that 19.8 million Americans age 40 and older had age-related macular degeneration in 2019, including 1.49 million with late-stage disease. Another study estimated that 9.6 million Americans had diabetic retinopathy in 2021, including 1.84 million with vision-threatening disease. These are estimates from different years; some people may have both conditions, and not every person counted needs ongoing specialist treatment. Still, they give a sense of how many lives retinal disease touches. Retina Today offers a helpful discussion of these figures.
Location matters, too. A 2026 study of access to retinal care found that about one in 20 U.S. residents lived more than an hour’s drive from the nearest retina specialist. If patients in your community travel a long way or wait too long for care, tell candidates what you are seeing and how a new colleague could help.
There is a broader workforce concern as well. A published projection for ophthalmology as a whole estimates a 30% gap between physician supply and demand by 2035. It does not forecast a retina-specific shortage, and we would not use it to predict exactly how competitive an individual search will be. But it gives practices another reason to plan before schedules, referrals, or call coverage become difficult to manage.
The American Society of Retina Specialists says it represents more than 3,500 physicians in the United States and internationally. That is a worldwide membership figure, not a count of retina surgeons seeking work in the U.S. However you measure the workforce, the question for your practice remains personal: what kind of opportunity are you offering, and what would help a surgeon build a lasting career there?
What Kind of Retina Surgeon Do You Need?
“Retina specialist” can mean different things in a recruiting conversation. Does your practice need someone who will perform vitreoretinal surgery and manage urgent surgical referrals? Are you primarily adding capacity for medical retina visits, imaging, injections, and laser? Do you need a surgeon who enjoys both sides of the work?
Be precise about the cases you see now and the cases you refer elsewhere. If you want a surgical retina specialist, describe your existing and expected volume for cases such as retinal detachment, diabetic retinal disease, macular surgery, and other procedures relevant to your practice. If most of the first year will consist of medical retina care, say that plainly. A candidate can welcome a medical-heavy start when there is a believable plan for the surgical practice they hope to develop.
Also ask why you are hiring. Is a partner approaching retirement? Have referral volumes changed? Are you opening a new location? Is your current team looking for a more sustainable call schedule? Perhaps your only retina surgeon is carrying too much call and needs a colleague to share the work. The answer tells a surgeon what they would be stepping into and what you would build together.
Can You Show Candidates Where the Patients Will Come From?
A job description may promise “strong referrals,” but a thoughtful candidate will want to see how that works in an ordinary week.
Look at your referral sources: comprehensive ophthalmologists, optometrists, primary care and diabetes care teams, emergency departments, outside eye care practices, and your own existing retina service. Which relationships are established? Which still need to be built? If a departing physician’s practice is being transitioned, explain how patients and referring doctors will be introduced to the new surgeon.
Talk through the first six months and the years beyond. What volume is already in the practice? What might be available if you improve access or stop referring cases out? Which assumptions depend on another physician retiring or a new office opening? Candidates do not need a guaranteed number of surgeries. They do need to understand what is real today and what is still a goal.
Can Your Practice Support the Whole Retina Workday?
Retina surgeons often move between long-term treatment relationships and urgent, sight-threatening problems. The clinical work can be deeply satisfying. It can also be demanding when injection schedules are full, a patient needs an unscheduled visit, or surgery has to be arranged quickly.
Show candidates how your practice supports that work. Discuss trained technicians and imaging staff; OCT and other diagnostic resources; injection workflow and medication management; laser access; surgical equipment; operating room time; and help with scheduling, prior authorizations, and follow-up. Describe where surgery takes place and how cases reach the operating room. If the role spans multiple offices, explain travel and staffing at each location.
Call deserves its own conversation. How often would the surgeon be on call? Who covers nights, weekends, vacations, and urgent postoperative needs? How are emergency referrals handled today? A candidate may be quite willing to share call when they understand the volume, expectations, and support behind it. An undefined promise that “everyone pitches in” leaves too much to discover later.
If aspects of your retina service are still being built, that is okay. Tell the candidate what you have, what you plan to add, and when. The American Society of Retina Specialists has published practical resources on growing a retina practice; the details of equipment, staffing, and workflow are part of the opportunity, not just background operations.
If This Surgeon Would Be Your Only Retina Specialist, How Will You Support Them?
Some fellows tell us their faculty and attendings encourage them to look first at retina-only groups. They may value having other retina surgeons close by to discuss cases, share call, provide coverage, and offer mentorship. If yours is a comprehensive ophthalmology practice hiring its first retina surgeon, a candidate may reasonably ask what happens when an urgent retina case arrives and they are the only retina specialist in the group.
That can still be an appealing opportunity, particularly for someone who wants to build a service. Show them how it will work: Who covers their patients when they are away? Which retina colleagues can they call about a complex case? How will they get urgent operating room time? What does the call schedule look like, and where will a recent fellow find mentorship? If some answers are still being developed, say so and explain the plan. This is the kind of support that helps a surgeon imagine staying.
What Will Make a Surgeon Want to Stay?
Retina surgeons will ask about compensation, but they are also paying attention to the people they may rely on during a difficult day. Are colleagues willing to talk through complicated cases? Do they trust one another’s judgment? For a new fellow, is there a retina mentor who enjoys teaching and sharing what they have learned? Does the practice make room for careful patient care even when clinic is busy?
Give candidates time with the physicians and staff they would work with. If the group has a culture of mentorship, show what that looks like in practice—especially for a surgeon coming out of fellowship. If the role offers research, teaching, clinical trials, leadership, or the chance to shape a growing retina service, explain the actual opportunities rather than listing them as promises.
And give the community its due. A surgeon choosing a new position may also be choosing a home for a spouse or partner, children, and extended family. Help them get a fair picture of life there. That conversation is part of recruiting well, particularly when a move would take someone far from the people they know.
We’ve written more about the concerns that influence a physician’s decision in why great ophthalmology candidates turn down great practices.
How Should You Present Compensation and Partnership?
Walk through the entire offer, not just the first-year salary. In our experience, candidates appreciate seeing realistic illustrations of what compensation could look like after one or two years and, where applicable, as a partner. Show the assumptions behind those illustrations rather than presenting projections as promises. Explain base salary, when productivity incentives begin, benefits, time off, sign-on or relocation support, call expectations, and how the practice will help the surgeon develop volume.
From OjO’s recruiting conversations, new graduate retina surgeons may see base salaries of $400,000–$550,000. Experienced retina surgeons can command much higher base salaries. That is a working range from our experience, not a national salary survey or a promise about any particular job. Bonuses and other incentives are separate from base salary. Geography, case mix, call, existing patient volume, and clinical support all shape the offer.
For a retina role, discuss the operational side of compensation too. How will a new physician’s clinic template be built? How will referrals be shared? What staff and operating room resources support the projected work? Two offers with similar starting pay can feel very different once a surgeon understands the support behind them.
If partnership is possible, explain the history of partnership in your group. When have associates become eligible? How are buy-ins determined? Would ownership include a retina practice, a larger multispecialty group, an ASC, or other assets? You may not know every future term today, but candidates should understand the process well enough to ask informed questions.
Some surgeons want ownership; others are happy in an employed position. A clear, honest offer makes room for both conversations.
When Should You Start a Retina Surgeon Search?
If you can see the need coming, start planning before a partner’s final year or before your call schedule becomes unworkable. A surgeon may need to complete a fellowship, give notice, secure licensure, and move a family. Your practice may need time to arrange space, staffing, referral transitions, and operating room access.
You can use that time well. Write down what the incoming surgeon can expect on day one, what the practice intends to build, and who is responsible for making it happen. Then stay open to learning from candidates. The best conversations often reveal something you had not thought to include in the role.
When the need becomes urgent, it is tempting to hurry past questions of clinical fit or collegiality. Those questions matter most when you hope someone will stay. Our article on the hiring mistake practices make when they urgently need a doctor goes deeper into that decision.
What Should You Ask a Retina Surgeon During Interviews?
Ask questions that help both sides picture the work, the team, and the life around it:
- What drew you to retina, and what kind of cases do you most hope to care for?
- What balance of medical retina visits, injections, and surgery would make this role fulfilling?
- Which procedures do you want to perform regularly, and what experience do you want to keep developing?
- What operating room access and clinical resources do you need to do your best work?
- What would a manageable call schedule look like to you?
- How do you like to work with comprehensive ophthalmologists, optometrists, and referring physicians?
- If you are early in your career, what sort of mentorship would help?
- What would success look like in your first year and a few years later?
- If partnership or leadership interests you, what would you hope it includes?
- What would help you and your family feel at home in this community?
Give the surgeon room to ask just as much of you. A good interview is a chance to see whether the expectations on both sides can hold up beyond the offer letter.
How OjO Helps Practices Recruit Retina Surgeons
We begin by listening. Why are you hiring? What care do your patients need? What is the real medical and surgical mix? What does your team do well, and where will a new colleague need support? The more we understand the practice behind the job description, the better we can help you tell its story to physicians who may be a fit.
OjO has focused on ophthalmology and optometry recruitment across the United States since 2009. We know a surgeon is choosing far more than a salary, and your practice is choosing someone who may become a trusted colleague for many years. We approach both decisions with care.
Our recruitment work is contingency-based, and we do not require an exclusive agreement. Learn more about recruiting with OjO or start a conversation with our team.
Frequently Asked Questions About Retina Surgeon Recruitment
What is the difference between recruiting a surgical retina specialist and a medical retina specialist?
A surgical retina role calls for a physician who can manage the intended vitreoretinal surgical cases as well as the medical retina work included in the position. A medical retina role generally emphasizes diagnosis, imaging, injections, laser, and longitudinal management rather than vitreoretinal surgery. Be clear about the fellowship training, clinical duties, and operating room work the position requires.
How many retina surgeons are there in the United States?
There is no single count that answers every version of this question. A 2025 study of Medicare procedure claims identified 4,123 physicians who performed at least one retina subspecialty procedure during its 2012–2022 study period. That is not a current census of fellowship-trained retina surgeons. A 2026 geographic access study identified 2,516 active, fellowship-trained U.S. retina specialists for its analysis, including surgical and medical specialists. The studies counted different groups in different ways; neither tells us how many surgeons are open to a new job. For your search, look closely at local need, referral flow, and what your practice can offer a candidate.
How much base salary should we offer a new retina surgeon?
In OjO’s recruiting conversations, new graduate retina surgeons may see base salaries of $400,000–$550,000. Experienced retina surgeons can command much higher base salaries. This is a working range, not a national compensation survey. Compare guarantees and incentive terms separately, and be ready to explain the patient volume and support behind your offer.
What should a retina surgeon job description include?
Explain why you are hiring; whether the role is surgical retina, medical retina, or both; the likely first-year patient and surgical mix; referral sources; clinic locations; staff, imaging and injection resources; operating room access; call; compensation; and any genuine path to partnership. Specifics help a surgeon picture the job.
Do retina surgeons expect an established surgical volume?
Preferences differ. An experienced surgeon taking over an established service may expect a clear transition of cases and referrals. A recent fellow may be willing to build, especially with mentorship, operating room access, and a credible plan. Tell candidates which parts of the volume already exist and which are projected.
Can we recruit a surgeon if they would be our only retina specialist?
Yes. Be ready to talk through call, coverage, urgent surgery, access to experienced retina colleagues, and mentorship. Some fellows are advised to consider retina-only practices first because those supports may already be in place. Showing how your practice will provide them can make a new retina service a more credible opportunity.
How long does it take to recruit a retina surgeon?
There is no reliable universal timeline. Geography, the clinical mix, call, compensation, fellowship and contract schedules, and a candidate’s family needs all affect a search. Planning early gives you time to find a good match and prepare for the physician’s arrival.
Must we offer partnership or sign-on compensation?
No single package fits every surgeon. Some want ownership; others prefer employment. Sign-on support may help with a move, but it cannot make up for an unclear role or inadequate clinical support. Present what you can genuinely offer and explain how it works.
Does OjO require an exclusive agreement or an upfront recruitment fee?
No exclusive recruitment agreement is required. Our recruitment services are contingency-based: a recruitment fee is due only if we help you hire a doctor.
Is there a recruitment or placement guarantee when we work with OjO?
Yes. We offer a money back guarantee on all of our physician placements.
Let’s Talk About Your Retina Surgeon Recruitment Needs
Perhaps you have an opening now. Perhaps you are thinking ahead to retirement, expanding a service, or looking for a more sustainable way to care for the patients already coming through your doors. We’d be glad to hear what is happening and help you think through the next step. We can begin with the patients you hope to serve and the colleague you hope to welcome.
Contact OjO about recruiting a retina surgeon or email us at info@ojorecruiting.com