VEGFA and non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy: Thus far, only three retrospective studies have explored the order of anti-VEGF therapy and PRP in the treatment of DME secondary to severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) or PDR (Kartasasmita and Harley, 2019; Zhang et al., 2021; Alsoudi et al., 2024); however, these have yielded somewhat divergent results, and the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated (Zhang et al., 2021).