1.What challenges have you had
to overcome being a woman in a
male-dominated profession?
Working in a male-dominated profession
has not been a challenge for me. I live
in a country where women were given
the right to vote and to be elected to
public office in 1934 by our revolutionist founder and leader
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Turkish women were granted these
rights much earlier than women in many Western countries.
2. In what ways will the Turkish Ophthalmological
Society be involved in the 2011 winter meeting of
the European Society of Cataract and Refractive
Surgeons (ESCRS) in Istanbul?
The Turkish Ophthalmological Society addresses the educational
needs of ophthalmologists in Turkey. Including our
national meeting, the Turkish Ophthalmological Society
promotes and scientifically supports five educational events
in cataract, refractive, vitreoretinal, and glaucoma surgery
every year. We believe that these events significantly contribute
to the progress of Turkish ophthalmology.
Next year, the ESCRS 2011 Winter meeting will be held in Istanbul. We believe and expect that this meeting will be at the forefront of ophthalmologic educational events that have taken place in Turkey. We very much look forward to conveying the importance of this event to our colleagues.
We encourage our neighboring countries' ophthalmic societies to come and be part of this great event. This meeting will be advertised on our Web site (www.todnet.org) and during our national meeting. We have already prepared a detailed program of the live surgery session, which I hope will scientifically satisfy attendees.
3.What pearls can you offer for the simultaneous
management of cataract and glaucoma?
If topical antiglaucoma therapy successfully regulates
intraocular pressure (IOP) in a patient with both cataract
and glaucoma, I recommend performing cataract surgery
first, followed by glaucoma surgery if required. Cataract and
glaucoma surgery may be required simultaneously if topical
antiglaucoma therapy fails to regulate IOP in a patient with
moderate glaucoma.
I recommend urgent glaucoma surgery in a patient with severe glaucoma accompanied by advanced glaucomatous optic neuropathy before dealing with the patient's cataract. In this patient, cataract surgery may be performed after IOP has stabilized for a satisfactory period of time. I prefer performing a one-site phacotrabeculectomy becasue I believe this approach results in less inflammation and a better success rate when compared with other techniques. I would also like to note the importance of using mitomycin-C when performing phacotrabeculectomy for patients who have previously undergone a glaucoma surgery and for pseudexfoliation glaucoma.
4. As an educator, what skills do you try to instill
in your students?
I always try to teach my students that every patient
should be assessed based on his individual characteristics
and symptoms. I also strongly emphasize to my students
that medical or surgical therapy should be performed
only for appropriate indications and with special attention
to these individual properties of each patient. I also
teach my students to act like a partner to the patient
throughout the treatment process. I belive that this attitude
strongly influences the final results.
5.What are your interests outside ophthalmology?
I like to spend my free time with Bianca, my Siberian
husky, playing sports, hiking in the countryside, and
swimming.
