02/09/2025
Inspired from a writing of Dr. Rohan Khandelwal (Breast Oncosurgeon).
An ENT Surgeon's version :
Who said ENT surgery (Otorhinolaryngology) is going to be easy?
ENT is one of the most sophisticated branches of medicine. It is not an easy path, not at all. It requires years of relentless hard work—long hours in the hospital, countless nights on call, and endless practice before you gain confidence with your hands. The learning curve is steep, and success is slow to reveal itself. The complications in the process of learning at times can be life changing or life threatening for the patients.
But here’s the question you need to ask yourself: Is it worth it?
My answer— ABSOLUTELY
The satisfaction of taking a patient with hearing disability (be it a child or be it adult) into the operating room and try to restore their hearing ability either by reconstruction of ossicular assembly or Cochlear Implantation —these are experiences that words can’t fully capture. Only the Surgeon's heart knows the feeling.
The feeling when a patient with airway injury repair talks normally and tracheostomy can be decannulated is worth remembering.
The smile on the patient's face after a septal surgery for a septal deviation or spur which didn't allow him to breathe properly and gave him or her sleepless nights is worth remembering.
Someone said, you can only truly enjoy this journey if you are passionate about ENT.
If you choose it as a backup—because you didn’t get your first or second choice—you will struggle and regret it.
ENT tests not only your knowledge but also your resilience, patience, and emotional strength. And not to forget your finesse of working in really small spaces extending from Dura to Pleura. To work in between the eyes, just below the brain is a task that an ENT surgeon masters in. Not to forget the Airways - from nose to the bronchus, your skills can be life saving.
If you are passionate, and you stick it out through the tough years—the endless training, the mistakes that teach you, the pressure that moulds you—you will eventually fall in love with this branch.
The pride of becoming an ENT surgeon and the impact you make on your patients’ lives make all the sacrifices worthwhile.
So, choose ENT only if your heart lies in it. Passion is what will carry you through the toughest nights, the longest hours, and the steepest learning curves. And once you survive those years, you will never look back.
And do remember it's the only branch in medical science which is present at the beginning and end of the word, 'ENTertainmENT'!!
Dr. Mainak Maitra
MS ENT
