Customize advanced configurations on ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner to make it yours

The smorgasbord of customizable options within ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner leads to choice paralysis if you don't know where to start. Let me show you where I began, how I grew, and what customizable features have made ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner an irreplaceable part of my practice's infrastructure.

When I started using ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner three years ago, I began by playing around with the interface to better understand how it could be integrated into my workflow. I started with a standard setup based on my partner’s preferences to get up and running, and I familiarized myself with the ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner dashboard in the meantime.

After I grew comfortable with the interface, I explored advanced settings, such as IOL configuration and A constant toggles. Playing with these settings taught me how (and to what degree) ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner could assist in surgical planning.

In my experience, the software rewards revisiting. Often, I’ll be reminded of specific settings when a certain need rises in clinic, and I’ll step back in to remind myself of other capabilities I may be underusing. I recommend coming back to customization settings at regular intervals to make the most of the program.

One customization I've spent time on is my special needs dropdown, which now functions as my materials and supply list. ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner presents this list alphabetically by default, but I created headers to group related items instead. For example, my stains sit together, and my capsular tension rings, segments, and capsular retractors have their own section. My intracameral medications and my OVDs each get grouped, too.

When I finalize my case list, I print a summary showing every special need I've selected for each patient. My OR staff sees it ahead of time, and my team pulls what's needed before the case starts. Organizing the dropdown simplifies OR prep and surgical planning.

Setting up my supplementary procedures list the same way lets me prioritize the options I prefer out of everything ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner offers natively. This matters most for specific surgical scenarios; for the sake of example, we’ll imagine a cataract case combined with a corneal procedure.

Before I used this feature, I scheduled the two procedures separately, which cluttered the surgery schedule and made a single patient look like two. Now that I use ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner, I add the corneal procedure to the cataract surgery directly via the supplementary procedures dropdown, and it appears alongside the primary case. If I want it to stand out further, I can schedule it as a second dominant procedure. Either way, the information stays attached to the right patient without duplicating the schedule.

Aside from customizations, the feature I think gets overlooked most is the measurements tab. It functions like the data-summary page on an IOLMaster printout. ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner pulls that same kind of data together, but across devices, giving one clear view of all the measurements needed for a patient.

Comparing keratometry from various devices used to mean flipping between separate printouts. Now I open the measurements tab and see the K values and quality metrics from every device in one place. I can confirm that my average K agrees across devices within a hundredth of a diopter, and I can check the standard deviations underneath each measurement to judge how reliable the readings are.

I've spent more time in advanced configuration than many of my colleagues, and I understand why the sheer number of options intimidates some surgeons. If you get stuck, the help chat in the bottom right connects you with an actual person on the ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner team, not a bot, which is another reason VERACITY is a trusted tool in my practice.

My advice: don't try to configure everything at once. ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner grows with you, so start with whatever solves your most immediate frustration, get comfortable, then revisit the settings as your practice evolves. Try configuring some of the advanced settings for yourself to see how you can simplify workflows in your own practice.

^{The statements of the author reflect only his personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any institution with whom he is affiliated.
The author has a contractual or other financial relationship with Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. and has received financial support.}