WhatsApp +34 603 14 47 40·idairaoftalmo@gmail.com
English-speaking ophthalmologist · Santander, Spain
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Consultant ophthalmologist

A life devoted to understanding sight.

I am Dr Idaira Sánchez Santos. My training has taken me from Salamanca to Mexico City, by way of Burgos and Madrid, and I have chosen Santander, on Spain's northern coast, as the place to run my practice and share what I have learnt — in Spanish, English and French.

Career

I studied Medicine and Surgery at the University of Salamanca, one of Europe's oldest universities, including an Erasmus year at the Medical University of Lublin (Poland). From the start I was drawn to ophthalmology: a specialty that combines the most delicate microsurgery with deep and rewarding clinical work.

After Spain's national specialty exam (MIR), I completed my residency in ophthalmology at Burgos University Hospital, with training in every area of the specialty. I then devoted two years exclusively to a demanding Retina and Vitreous Fellowship at the Asociación para Evitar la Ceguera in Mexico City, one of the world's reference centres for retinal disease, with a surgical and clinical volume that is hard to match.

Back in Spain, I worked in leading Madrid hospitals — the Gómez Ulla Central Defence Hospital and La Princesa University Hospital — before settling in Cantabria.

Dr Idaira Sánchez Santos operating with a surgical microscope
In the operating theatre, at the surgical microscope.
“Ophthalmology is a specialty of precision: every millimetre counts. But behind every microsurgery there is a person trusting you to recover something as essential as seeing the world.”

Training

  • Degree in Medicine and Surgery · University of Salamanca (2007–2013)
  • Erasmus exchange · Medical University of Lublin, Poland (2010–2011)
  • Diploma in Eye Care in Developing Countries · University of Valencia (12 ECTS, 2015–2016)
  • Residency (MIR) in Ophthalmology · Burgos University Hospital
  • Master's in Clinical Ophthalmology · CEU Cardenal Herrera University (60 ECTS, 2016–2017)
  • Retina and Vitreous Fellowship · Asociación para Evitar la Ceguera, Mexico City (two years)
Honourable mention in the Winning Pitch Challenge at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS), Vancouver, July 2018, for the research project “Intravitreal Bromfenac with liposomes for treatment of diabetic macular edema”.

Hospital experience

  • Hospital Santa Clotilde · Santander (private practice, current)
  • Hospital Sierrallana · Cantabria Health Service (current)
  • Gómez Ulla Central Defence Hospital · Madrid
  • La Princesa University Hospital · Madrid
  • Burgos University Hospital · Burgos (residency)
  • Asociación para Evitar la Ceguera · Mexico City (retina fellowship)

Publications and research

  • Speaker at FacoElche, one of Spain's leading ophthalmology meetings.
  • Lead author: “Edema macular en oclusiones vasculares” (Macular oedema in vascular occlusions). In: Jiménez Sierra JM, Sánchez Huerta V. Manual de estudios diagnósticos en Oftalmología, 1st edition, Mexico, 2019. ISBN 978-607-96851-6-4.
  • Author of the research project recognised at the ASRS on treating diabetic macular oedema with intravitreal liposomal bromfenac.

Languages

I consult in Spanish, English and French. International patients and English- or French-speaking residents in Spain can go through the whole process — from the first online consultation to surgery and follow-up — in their own language.

My approach

I believe in medicine that is evidence-based, individualised and honest. Not everyone needs surgery, and not every eye problem is what it seems at first sight. That is why I take time to explain each diagnosis, each treatment option and the real risks and benefits, so that you can make an informed decision.

Informed consent is not a formality for me: it is the basis of a transparent doctor–patient relationship, in which every procedure is understood, accepted and properly documented.

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