Methods and systems for pulsed illumination

A vitreoretinal surgical system for performing a vitreoretinal procedure, comprising:

• an illumination instrument sized and configured to illuminate tissue at a surgical site for an ocular procedure;
• a light source arranged to provide illumination to the illumination instrument for emission from the illumination instrument;
• a controller in communication with the light source and configured to activate the light source in a manner providing illumination pulses at a frequency above a flickering perception in humans, and wherein a time period of each illumination pulse is smaller than the time between illumination pulses;
• and
• a microscope oriented relative to the surgical site and arranged to provide visualization of illuminated tissue at the surgical site to a user.