Dr Uday Devgan, MD, is a globally recognized expert in cataract and refractive surgery and a leading innovator in ophthalmic education. As the founder of CataractCoach.com, he has created one of the most influential online platforms for surgical education, offering daily teaching videos to over 100,000 subscribers worldwide along with the most-subscribed podcast in the field of ophthalmology.

Dr Devgan previously served as a Full Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the UCLA School of Medicine and as Chief of Ophthalmology at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. With over two decades of experience in resident surgical education, he remains deeply committed to advancing the next generation of ophthalmic surgeons.

Most recently, Dr Devgan was honoured with the Corboy Award for Distinguished Service to Ophthalmology at Hawaiian Eye 2025, recognizing his exceptional contributions to the field. In this Q&A, Dr Devgan discusses his journey into cataract surgery, the inspiration behind CataractCoach.com, his perspectives on the future of ophthalmology and his advice for aspiring ophthalmologists.

1. What initially drew you to specialize in cataract surgery?

I wasn’t even planning on doing ophthalmology in medical school, but I happened to see a patient with bilateral white cataracts at a charity hospital. The patient was completely blind, walking in while holding onto the walls. After a beautiful, elegant surgery, her vision was restored to a normal level—six-six vision. I just thought, Wow, that is the most amazing miracle in all of modern medicine. You are literally making a blind person see. That was it for me—I knew I had to do this. During my training, I considered other subspecialties, but cataract surgery was what I truly loved, so I fully embraced it. And more than 20 years ago, I embraced treating cataract surgery as a refractive procedure, which has been a huge part of my practice ever since.

2. What inspired you to create CataractCoach.com, and how do you see it evolving in the future to meet the needs of ophthalmologists?

I’ve always loved teaching. At UCLA, we had over 100 faculty members in ophthalmology, and every year, only one person received the teaching award. No one had ever won it twice, but I won it five times in 20 years, which was unheard of. That made me realize that I must have a real knack for teaching, and I wanted to take it beyond just working with one resident or fellow at a time—I wanted to teach the world and learn more myself in the process.

So, in 2018, I challenged myself: Can I produce a new surgical teaching video every single day? And here we are, more than 2,400 days later, and I haven’t missed a single day. At first, it was just my own videos, but now I feature videos submitted by ophthalmologists around the world. The content is available on all platforms—YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn—but the most organized way to access it is on CataractCoach.com, where everything is categorized and searchable.

Looking ahead, we’re expanding even further. On March 1st, we’re launching RetinaRounds.com, which will be a daily educational video series focused on retina surgery. The goal remains the same: provide top-quality education to ophthalmologists worldwide and level the playing field by sharing all the surgical secrets I’ve learned.

3. What does receiving the Corboy Award for Distinguished Service to Ophthalmology mean to you personally and professionally, and how does it reflect on your journey in the field of ophthalmology?

Receiving an award like that is a tremendous honor, but for me, the real reward is the impact I see in the ophthalmology community. When I travel to conferences, I meet so many ophthalmologists—both young and experienced—who come up to me, tell me they watch my videos every day, and thank me for helping them improve their skills. That’s what means the most to me. The work I do is not about recognition; it’s about sharing knowledge and elevating the field. If I can help ophthalmologists perform better surgery, I know I’m making a difference for their patients too. And remember that I learn so much every week by going through the dozens of videos submitted by colleagues.

4. What cutting-edge developments in cataract surgery or ophthalmology are you most excited about, and how do you see them transforming patient care in the coming years?

There are two major advancements that really excite me: AI-driven improvements in cataract surgery and robotic surgical systems.

Our group, Advanced Euclidean Solutions, recently received a US patent for a methodology that uses AI to improve IOL calculations for cataract surgery, and this is going to be a game-changer. The way we determine lens power is already quite advanced, but AI has the potential to make it even more precise, leading to better visual outcomes for patients.

The second major innovation is robotic cataract surgery. I actually featured a video on CataractCoach.com about this recently. Our team at Horizon Surgical Systems working on fully automated robotic cataract surgery, which is truly amazing. It’s still in the early stages, but like any good technology, it will improve with every iteration. Just think about how the original iPhone compared to today’s models—the progress is night and day. I see the same thing happening with robotic surgery in ophthalmology.

And the best part? These systems can actually learn—we can train a robot using thousands of surgical videos so that it can emulate precise techniques. This is where the future is headed, and I’m excited to be part of it.

5. What advice would you give to future ophthalmologists who aspire to make a significant impact in the field, whether it’s through clinical work, education, or innovation?

Work hard. That’s it. Every ophthalmologist is smart—you have to be to get into medical school and into this specialty. But what separates the best from the rest is work ethic.

Ask yourself: Can I make a new video every day for 2,500 days in a row and never miss a day? That’s not about being smart—that’s about being dedicated and consistent.

If you want to make an impact, just do the work. If you have an idea, don’t wait—start creating, start sharing. When I uploaded my first few videos, I had no idea if anyone would watch them. But I stuck with it, and the audience grew. Now, I reach over a million people a month. That didn’t happen overnight; it happened through relentless consistency.

So whatever you choose to do—whether it’s clinical work, research, education or innovation—commit to it fully. Let your work speak for itself, and the impact will follow.

Disclosures: Uday Devgan owns equity stakes in CataractCoach.com, RetinaRounds.com, Advanced Euclidean Solutions, and Horizon Surgical Systems.

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