Document is current

Article History

Received: 19 January 2026

Accepted: 13 March 2026

First Online: 28 March 2026

Declarations

:

: Dr. Kelvin Yi Chong Teo reports consultancy fees, honorarium, travel support and speaker fees from Bayer and Novartis outside the submitted work. Dr. Young Hee Yoon reports no relevant conflict of interest. Dr. Shigeru Honda reports support from Santen, Senju, Chugai, Alcon, HOYA, Novartis, and Bayer outside the submitted work. Dr. Kyu Hyung Park reports consultancy fees, honorarium, travel support and speaker fees from Bayer, Novartis, Alcon, Roche, Samsung Bioepis, Oculight, RetiMark outside the submitted work. Dr. Hidenori Takahashi reports consultancy fees, speaker honoraria, and travel support from Bayer and Novartis, and speaker honoraria from Santen, Senju, and Chugai, all outside the submitted work. He also reports financial support from SPS and Kyowa Kirin, and holds intellectual property and a founder position in DeepEyeVision. Dr. Ryuichi Ideta reports consultancy fees and speaker fees from Senju, Chugai, Santen, Novartis, and Kowa outside the submitted work. Dr Tetsuju Sekiryu reports support from Santen, Senju, Chugai, Alcon, HOYA, Novartis, and Bayer outside the submitted work. Dr. Akira Hirata reports consultancy fees and speaker fees from Novartis, Santen, Senju, and Kowa outside the submitted work. Dr. Akira Obana reports no relevant conflict of interest. Dr Ryusaburo Mori reports personal fees from Bayer Yakuhin Ltd., Chugai Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd., Novartis Pharma K.K, Senju Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd., Santen Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd, and Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co, Ltd. Dr. Shih Jen Chen reports consultation fees from Roche, Bayer, Novartis and Allergan outside the submitted work. Dr. Caroline Chee reports consultation fees from Roche, Speaker fees from Novartis outside the submitted work. Dr. James Wong reports consultancy fees and speaker honoraria from Bayer, Roche, and Apellis outside the submitted work. Dr. Timothy Lai reports consultancy fees, grants, travel support and speaker fees from Bayer, Novartis and Roche during the conduct of the study; consultancy fees, grants and speaker fees from 4DMT, Astellas, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Ocular Therapeutix, Oculis, and Roche outside the submitted work. Dr. Ian Wong reports no relevant conflict of interest. Dr Nicholas Fung reports travel support from Alcon outside the submitted work. Dr. Won Ki Lee reports consultancy fees, travel support and speaker fees from Bayer, Novartis, Roche outside the submitted work. Dr. Hiroko Terasaki reports speaker fees from Alcon, Bayer, Santen, and Sanofi outside the submitted work. Dr. Shih-Chou Chen reports consultation fees from Roche, Bayer, Novartis and Allergan outside the submitted work. Dr Takafumi Miyatani reports no conflict of interest. Dr Tomohiro Iida reports support from Santen, Senju, Chugai, Novartis, Kyowa Kirin, Topcon and Bayer outside the submitted work. Dr Ryo Obata reports speaker fees from Bayer, Chugai, Novartis, Santen, and Senju outside the submitted work. Tobias Machewitz and Dr. Sergio Leal are employees of Bayer AG. Dr. Chui Ming Gemmy Cheung reports consultancy fees, honorarium, travel support and speaker fees from 4DMT, Astellas, Bayer, Novartis, Roche, Boehringer Ingelheim, Zeiss and Topcon outside the submitted work. Dr. Chui Ming Gemmy Cheung is an Editorial Board member of Ophthalmology and Therapy . Dr. Chui Ming Gemmy Cheung was not involved in selection of peer reviewers for the manuscript nor any of the subsequent editorial decisions.

: The study was conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and with approval of the respective institutional review boards of the participating centers (SingHealth IRB: R1597/96/2018). Written informed consent was obtained from each participant.