VEGFA and diabetic retinopathy: Pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) is the principle surgical technique to treat complications of diabetic retinopathy, namely, proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), after non-surgical options such as panretinal laser photocoagulation (PRP) and intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injection are explored [1–3].