[Original Post: September 2016]

This morning, I was doing some web searches on local retina specialists, to see if someone closer to where I live would be acceptable.  One of the doctors I looked up is a member of something called The American Eye Study Club.  Now, I have never heard of many things, and this is one of them.  Was this a group of people who conduct research on eye disease?  I was intrigued, so I did a little more looking.

It turns out that the club’s name is rather misleading.  According to its website, the AESC is a “forum for young leaders from diverse academic, geographic and practice backgrounds to openly exchange ideas and discuss new developments in a scientific and social setting that includes both members and their families.”  Well, that’s still a good thing, yes?

A bit more searching turned up a brochure for the club’s 2011 so-called annual meeting, worth 12 hours of continuing medical education (CME) credits.  The goal of the meeting, according to the brochure, was to “provide information on new technologies / medical therapies and to facilitate discussion that will lead to the development of new approaches to treatment options for patients of practicing ophthalmologists.”  In her welcome letter, the club president referred to the CME credits as “a meaningful and enticing component for your attendance.”

The 2011 annual meeting was held at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina.  You may have heard of Pinehurst — it is home to one of the most renowned golf courses in the United States.  But that was just a coincidence.  The attendees — sorry, I meant to say, the developers of new treatment options — did not spend all their time golfing.  There was also time for some tennis and croquet.  Here was their grueling five-day agenda:

Tuesday, July 26
4:00 – 6:00 Registration
6:00 – 9:30 Welcome reception and light dinner

Wednesday, July 27
Morning – Golf outing followed by lunch
1:30 – 5:00 Technical sessions (including 15-minute coffee break)

Thursday, July 28
Morning – Tennis tournament
1:15 – 5:00  Technical sessions (including 30-minute coffee break)
6:30 – 9:00  Reception and banquet

Friday, July 29
8:00 – 12:00 Technical sessions (including 15-minute coffee break)
Afternoon/Evening – Free time and family croquet

Saturday, July 30
7:30 – 1:00  Golf outing
2:00 – 3:30 Technical sessions
3:30 – 4:00 Ice cream social
6:30 – 8:00  Reception

The time devoted to technical discussions amounted to 12 hours over the course of 5 days.

The same local ophthalmologist who belongs to the American Eye Study Club published a list of his professional associations on his practice’s (Asheville Eye Associates) website.  The final entry — after “Member of Western Carolina Medical Society” — was “Member of the Divot Society.”  Another group I somehow never heard of.  A search revealed that the Divot Society is listed in the professional affiliations of three North Carolina eye doctors. And these were the only references to the Divot Society I could find.

I suppose these ophthalmologists think it’s amusing to list a golf-related group (or club or society or inside joke, whatever it is) as one of their professional affiliations.  As a patient, it is certainly helpful to know important details like this when selecting a doctor.  I have nothing against golf or vacations, but listings like the American Eye Study Club and the Divot Society make me think that some doctors would rather be eyeing their putts than treating our eyes.

Local eye specialist? I’m still looking.

[UPDATE: December 2023]

After a frustrating year-long experience in 2017 with one of the bow-tied ophthalmologists at the above-named local practice — for some reason of his own, he was reluctant to treat my eye even after I told him of my visual distortion — I found an excellent retina specialist, Dr. Arman Farr, in Charlotte, who also practices in (a bit closer) Gastonia.  My spouse and I have been making the two-hour drive — me there and she back — every couple of months for the past five-plus years.  “In sickness and in health.”

Re: Doctor T. Reginald Bowtie III… he’s still on staff at Asheville Eye.  And his colleagues still list the Divot Society among their professional associations.  Apparently, not much has changed in that place, seven years later, not that I would have expected it.

Re: The American Eye Study Club…  Still going strong.  Their next meeting (2024) will be at Kilkea Castle in County Kildare, Ireland.  As always, looking for eye-opening venues to advance their studies and work on their golf swings.