Still counting: 3 million surgical cases planned with ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner

ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner has reached 3 million surgical cases planned, a milestone that says as much about surgeon trust as it does about software adoption. We sat down with Nicole Fram, MD, Sumitra Khandelwal, MD and Gary Wörtz, MD, for a roundtable discussion on how ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner has reshaped their surgical planning, operating rooms, and outcomes.

Here’s what they had to say about the time they’ve saved, the errors they’ve avoided, and why other surgeons should consider adopting VERACITY as their surgical planner.

Gary Wörtz, MD: ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner has the Wörtz-Gupta formula built directly into the platform, so it’s available at the click of a button. It’s one of the few validated formulas for arcuate incisions with the femtosecond laser, and ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner is the only platform this formula is licensed to. Rather than manually entering data into an online calculator, I can simply click a button, and the calculation is done with no transposition errors or time delays.

Nicole Fram, MD: ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner saves me time by keeping me untethered from the paper chart. I can pick lenses from anywhere, at any time, even for the most complex cases involving post-LASIK, toric, and keratoconus patients. It also cuts down the time I spend training biometry technicians on the nuances of different lens calculations for complex eyes.

Sumitra Khandelwal, MD: Using ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner has streamlined our clinic workflows by consolidating formulas into one resource. We used to print out lens calculations, go through them with the patient, and reprint if we needed a different value. Now, it’s all there with one click. I can toggle through options for a patient without a technician running back and forth to reprint. That time comes back to the patient in front of me instead of the printer.

Dr. Wörtz: The biggest efficiency unlocks happen around surgical planning. In our practice, there are different pricing tiers for a toric lens versus an arcuate incision, which affects price for the patient. Before ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner, I would manually work through both calculators after seeing a patient, and sometimes the price a patient was initially quoted could be off by $500 or more. Now, I can pull up both calculations in a few clicks in the exam lane and set expectations with the patient from the start.

Dr. Fram: The OR is where I see the biggest efficiency gain. We treat surgery much like pilots treat takeoff, with approximately five timeouts throughout the case, and ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner serves as both a confirmation and timeout tool. Being able to confirm all the calculations within seconds keeps the OR running smoothly and gives me confidence in the lens I’m putting into the eye, which is especially useful in a high-volume practice.

Dr. Khandelwal: ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner has made the biggest difference for me postoperatively, because it allows me to easily track my postoperative outcomes. It can automatically compare postoperative refraction to predicted refraction across multiple patients, providing predictive error for each case that I use to assess how a specific lens is performing in my clinic. Previously, manually tracking postoperative outcomes was cumbersome and required the help of an additional technician. ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner has increased the quality of our tracking without increasing administrative burden.

Dr. Wörtz: The biggest change has been in edge cases, such as weighing an arcuate incision versus a toric lens when there’s overlap, or one toric lens versus another. Prior to ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner, comparing options involved checking an online calculator, then each manufacturer’s site separately, re-entering the same data each time. Often, it meant picking a lens and doing my best, but now I can see which option truly fits a given patient with just a click or two.

Dr. Fram: In my practice, accuracy is everything, so if a patient tells us before their second eye surgery that their distance vision is great but they can’t see their phone or dashboard, ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner allows us to change our IOL selection for the second eye, choosing mini monovision or an EDOF lens on the spot, with proper consent. Previously, that meant calling the office and rerunning formulas. Now, we click a button and have everything we need.

Dr. Khandelwal: I’ve found the biggest change has been formula selection, especially in astigmatism cases. In cases with lower levels of astigmatism, ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner can alert me in the room that a planned monofocal would leave meaningful error behind, prompting real-time conversations with the patient about switching to toric technology. It also lets me toggle between refractive aims and see the predictive refractive error before deciding where to land.

Dr. Wörtz: I expect growth to be exponential as surgeons recognize the time saved and prevention of errors. It has become an integral part of ensuring I deliver the right lens to the right patient, every time.

Dr. Fram: Many surgeons don’t yet realize what’s available to them, and they’re still relying on paper printouts instead of discovering how fast they can compare measurements or run advanced calculations. Even at 3 million cases, there’s still work to do showing them they can be untethered from the office entirely. Gujral and Hovanesian have shown that using ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner saves surgeons significant time during surgical planning¹; hopefully our colleagues begin applying those data to their clinic.

Dr. Khandelwal: More cataract surgery is being done every year, and that alone will drive growth. Some surgeons may think they don’t need it, and I used to be one of them. But ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner eases the burden on staff, sharpens outcomes, and cuts transcription errors. I’d encourage everyone to give it a try.

Thank you to Drs. Fram, Khandelwal, and Wörtz for sharing their experiences, and to all the surgeons and practice teams who have made ZEISS VERACITY Surgery Planner part of their surgical planning. We’re proud to celebrate this milestone with you.

^{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.}