The veteran's appeal for an increased disability rating for his service-connected bilateral CSR was denied. The Board found that the veteran's vision loss is not related to his service-connected CSR and thus does not meet the criteria for a higher disability rating. Service connection for a psychiatric disorder and headaches, claimed as secondary to his service-connected CSR, was also denied due to lack of competent medical evidence linking these conditions to his military service or his service-connected eye disability.
The deciding factor: The veteran's bilateral CSR is currently rated at 20 percent based on the current visual acuity loss. The Board found that the severe vision impairment and visual field loss are functional in nature and not related to his service-connected CSR, thus not meeting the criteria for a higher rating. For the psychiatric disorder and headaches claims, there was no competent medical evidence linking these conditions to his military service or his service-connected eye disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Central Serous Retinopathy (CSR), Headaches, Psychiatric Disorder
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating
- Not verified here — check the original decision
- Decision date
- November 20, 2006
- Citation
- 0636084
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,175 · Granted: 22% (granted or partly granted, in the indexed decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Search VA.gov for the original decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 0636084.
What this means for you
A final Board denial may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, generally within 120 days of the Board mailing date. A Supplemental Claim with new and relevant evidence is a separate option. Another Higher-Level Review of the Board decision is not available. Check your own notice: this historical decision does not set your deadline.
What you can do next
Use your own notice and decision stage. A remanded issue is not a final court-appealable denial. VA review guidance and CAVC filing instructions (U.S. federal; reviewed October 7, 2026).
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's OSA is granted as secondary to PTSD, but his headaches are denied due to lack of service connection.
- Whole decision: Granted
The Veteran's headaches, which manifested as very frequent and prolonged attacks causing severe economic inadaptability, are granted a 50 percent disability rating for the entire period on appeal.
- Whole decision: Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran seeks an earlier effective date for a 30 percent disability rating for his service-connected headaches, which was awarded with a noncompensable rating at 0 percent. The Board is remanding the claim due to inadequate examination and the need for a new VA examination to evaluate the severity of the Veteran's headaches without considering the ameliorating effects of any medication.
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