Purpose: To create a database of Spanish ophthalmologists mainly dedicated to retinal pathology care, describing their training period characteristics and their daily activity (clinical and surgical).
Methods: A postal questionnaire was sent to 504 possible retinologists identified through the information supplied by the Spanish Ophthalmological Society and the Spanish Vitreous-Retina Society, with a minimum of 3 retinologists per Autonomous Region.
Results: 267 (52.9% of the sample population) responses were collected and processed. Most of the respondents had started their residency after 1980 (82.4%). Ninety-four percent had received specific training in retinal pathology, mostly during the residency period (82.1%) and from more experienced colleagues (62.9%). Official fellowships were held in a minority of cases (around 12%). Twelve percent of retinologists performed retinal surgery only, 14.6% performed anterior segment surgery, and 60.7% performed both types of surgery.
Conclusions: Despite not having taken into consideration non-response bias, this study provides the first reported data on the professional profile of Spanish retinologists.