The Board has determined that the Veteran's diagnosed bilateral eye keratoconus, refractive error, and right eye astigmatism are not diseases or injuries for VA compensation purposes. Therefore, service connection cannot be established.
The deciding factor: Bilateral eye keratoconus is a congenital defect and developmental disorder, which does not qualify as a disease or injury under VA law and regulations.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral eye keratoconus, refractive error, right eye astigmatism
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 18, 2017
- Citation
- 1734080
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 1734080.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew his appeals for service connection and rating increases in multiple disabilities, including chronic fatigue syndrome, radiculopathies, refractive error, cervical spine disability, left knee disability, and right knee disability. The Board has dismissed these appeals.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral eye keratoconus was denied in a March 1975 rating decision. New evidence has been received, and the case is being remanded to determine if there is a relationship between the condition and service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection and compensation under 38 U.S.C. 1151 due to an alleged missing Notice of Disagreement (NOD) filed in January 2016, which was sent in response to a notification letter dated October 2015.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for left and right eye disorders, finding no evidence of a superimposed disease or injury creating additional disability.
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