Controlling a surgical system using a footswitch

An ophthalmic surgical system, comprising:

• a surgical microscope configured to provide a field of view of a surgical site to a user;
• a surgical instrument configured to perform a surgical task at the surgical site;
• a microscope display device in communication with the surgical microscope, the microscope display device configured to display a graphical overlay and the field of view including the surgical instrument, the graphical overlay displaying a plurality of fields to adjust one or more configurable settings that modify operation of the surgical instrument;
• a footswitch comprising a joystick and a plurality of buttons, the footswitch configured to receive user input from the user to adjust the one or more configurable settings associated with the surgical instrument by:
• detecting a first movement of the joystick by the user, the first movement representing movement of a cursor relative to the fields of the graphical overlay;
• and
• detecting a second movement of the joystick or a button by the user, the second movement representing a selection of a field of the graphical overlay entered by the user;
• and
• a computer configured to:
• generate a control signal to adjust the one or more configurable settings that modify the operation of the surgical instrument in the response to the user input entered using the graphical overlay;
• and
• output the control signal to the surgical instrument to control the surgical instrument to adjust the one or more configurable settings according to the user input entered using the graphical overlay.