The Veteran's bilateral eye condition, diagnosed as keratitis sicca, dry eye syndrome, and meibomian gland dysfunction, is granted service connection. The Veteran's asthma is denied service connection. The Veteran's upper respiratory infection (chronic bronchitis) and status post hysterectomy are remanded for further development.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran’s diagnoses of keratitis sicca, dry eye syndrome, and meibomian gland dysfunction were present during her military service and have continued to the present. The Veteran's asthma was not related to her military service as there is no competent medical evidence showing it had its clinical onset during service or that it is related to any incident of service.
- Claimed conditions
- keratitis sicca, dry eye syndrome, meibomian gland dysfunction, asthma, upper respiratory infection (chronic bronchitis), status post hysterectomy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 28, 2018
- Citation
- 18139770
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 18139770.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's respiratory disability, including asthma and COPD, is denied as service connection is not warranted due to the condition being solely attributed to smoking.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the cases of sleep apnea and asthma due to a failure to provide proper notice for a hearing.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for service connection for asthma and a 10 percent rating based on multiple noncompensable service-connected disabilities were dismissed. The claim of entitlement to a compensable rating for eczema was denied, while the claim of entitlement to allergic rhinitis was not addressed as it pertained to different issues.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal of entitlement to service connection for dry eye syndrome claimed as visual impairment, including blurry vision, blindness, double vision due to procedural error. The Veteran's claim for service connection for sleep apnea was denied because there is no evidence of a current diagnosis of sleep apnea.
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