The Board found that the Veteran's current left and right eye disorders, including macular degeneration, were not incurred in or caused by his military service. The evidence did not establish a link between his vision problems and his time in service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that the Veteran's macular degeneration was less likely than not caused by his in-service welding incidents due to its age-related nature and other potential contributing factors such as environmental exposure and medication use.
- Claimed conditions
- left eye macular degeneration, right eye macular degeneration
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 8, 2017
- Citation
- 1732060
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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 1732060.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's initial compensable rating for headaches and his claim for TDIU from August 31, 2011, to February 20, 2018 are both remanded due to duty-to-assist errors.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for right eye macular degeneration to obtain additional evidence and a medical opinion.
- Granted
The Board has granted service connection for headaches and remanded the remaining issues due to lack of evidence.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinions regarding whether the Veteran's bilateral eye disability is related to service-connected conditions or presumed herbicide exposure. The case will be returned for further development and consideration.
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