Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026
Pioneering Patient-Specific Approaches for Precision Surgery Using Imaging and Virtual Reality
Published on: April 5, 2024
Virtual reality simulation in acquiring and differentiating basic ophthalmic microsurgical skills
Daniel J Solverson1, Robert A Mazzoli, William R Raymond
1Department of Ophthalmology, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA, USA. daniel.solverson@amedd.army.mil
Objective:
A virtual reality (VR) surgical simulator (EyeSi ophthalmosurgical simulator: VRMagic, Mannheim, Germany) was evaluated as a part-task training platform for differentiating and developing basic ophthalmic microsurgical skills.
Methods:
Surgical novice performance (residents, interns, and nonmicrosurgical ophthalmic staff) was compared with surgical expert performance (practicing ophthalmic microsurgeons) on a basic navigational microdexterity module provided with the EyeSi simulator.
Results:
Expert surgeons showed a greater initial facility with all microsurgical tasks. With repeated practice, novice surgeons showed sequential improvement in all performance scores, approaching but not equaling expert performance.
Conclusion:
VR simulator performance can be used as a gated, quantifiable performance goal to expert-level benchmarks. The EyeSi is a valid part-task training platform that may help develop novice surgeon dexterity to expert surgeon levels.
