The Board has remanded the case due to new evidence submitted by the Veteran, including a letter from his daughter and an in-service event claim. The medical opinions are unclear on whether the eye condition is congenital defect or disease, and further examination is needed.
The deciding factor: The opinion regarding the nature of the Veteran's eye conditions (defect or disease) is unclear, requiring additional examination to determine if service connection can be granted for pre-existing conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- corneal scar, wet macular degeneration
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 15, 2019
- Citation
- A19001922
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,446 · Granted: 21% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted 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. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation A19001922.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted earlier effective dates for service connection and remanded the initial increased ratings for hypertension, ischemic stroke (including separate ratings for left-sided hemiparesis), left ankle residual of fracture, wet macular degeneration, left arm spasticity, right leg edema, and left leg edema.,The claims are being remanded to determine appropriate initial ratings given the earlier effective dates.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected disabilities did not preclude him from securing and maintaining substantially gainful employment prior to April 1, 2016. Therefore, the claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) is denied. The Veteran also does not meet the criteria for basic eligibility to Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) benefits under 38 U.S.C. Chapter 35 prior to April 1, 2016.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claim for left eye condition, specifically corneal scar, pinguecula, and incipient nuclear sclerosis, due to inadequate examination. The appellant is seeking service connection for these conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran was granted TDIU from February 1, 2014 to December 31, 2016. However, the Board denied TDIU for the period January 1, 2017 to May 16, 2018.
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