Matteo Capobianco, Simonetta Gaia Nicolosi, Francesco Cappellani, Marieme Khouyyi, Fabiana D’Esposito, Caterina Gagliano, Marco Zeppieri
Matteo Capobianco, Eye Clinic, Policlinico G. Rodolico, University of Catania, Catania 95121, Italy
Matteo Capobianco, Simonetta Gaia Nicolosi, Faculty of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania 95123, Italy
Francesco Cappellani, Fabiana D’Esposito, Caterina Gagliano, Department of Medicine and Surgery, Kore University of Enna, Enna 94100, Italy
Francesco Cappellani, Caterina Gagliano, Mediterranean Foundation, “G.B. Morgagni”, Catania 95125, Italy
Marieme Khouyyi, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina 98121, Italy
Fabiana D’Esposito, Imperial College Ophthalmic Research Group Unit, Imperial College, London NW1 5QH, United Kingdom
Marco Zeppieri, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital of Udine, Udine 33100, Italy
Marco Zeppieri, Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste 34127, Italy
Co-corresponding authors: Caterina Gagliano and Marco Zeppieri.
Author contributions: Gagliano C and Zeppieri M contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-corresponding authors. Capobianco M, Zeppieri M, Nicolosi SG, D’Esposito F and Gagliano C did the research and writing of the manuscript; Capobianco M, Zeppieri M, and Cappellani F assisted in the writing of the draft and final paper; Capobianco M, Zeppieri M, Nicolosi SG, Gagliano C, and D’Esposito F were responsible for the conception and design of the study; Capobianco M, Zeppieri M, Nicolosi SG, Cappellani F, and Khouyyi M assisted in the writing and editing of the manuscript; Zeppieri M assisted in the editing, making critical revisions of the manuscript and viewing all versions of the manuscript. All authors provided the final approval of the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Marco Zeppieri, MD, PhD, Consultant, Postdoc, Department of Oph
thalmology, University Hospital of Udine, p. le S. Maria della Misericordia 15, Udine 33100, Italy.
mark.zeppieri@asufc.sanita.fvg.it
Received: January 27, 2026
Revised: February 28, 2026
Accepted: March 11, 2026
Published online: April 16, 2026
Processing time: 72 Days and 16 Hours
