The Veteran's service connection claims for bilateral eye disabilities, including nuclear sclerotic cataracts, keratitis sicca, and hypertensive retinopathy are denied.,The Veteran's claim for an initial rating higher than 50 percent for migraine headaches is denied. The Veteran's pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB) claims have been granted with a 30% rating before July 9, 2009 and a 10% rating on or after that date.
The deciding factor: The preponderance of the evidence does not support a nexus between the Veteran's current eye disabilities (nuclear sclerotic cataracts, keratitis sicca, and hypertensive retinopathy) and his service. The July 2018 VA examiner opined that these conditions are related to age, environment, or uncontrolled high blood pressure.
- Claimed conditions
- nuclear sclerotic cataracts, keratitis sicca, hypertensive retinopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 2, 2019
- Citation
- 19124165
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,776 · Granted: 24% (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 19124165.
What this means for you
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for an eye condition, carpal tunnel syndrome, and diabetes mellitus with erectile dysfunction. However, it granted a 70% rating for PTSD and separate 10% ratings for diabetic neuropathy of the right and left lower extremities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board is remanding the claim for service connection for hypertensive retinopathy to ensure compliance with a Joint Motion for Remand, which requires providing notice of the right to a pre-decisional hearing.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertensive retinopathy as it is not secondary to a currently service-connected condition.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a vision disability, to include diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, open angle glaucoma, blepharitis, left eye optic neuritis, and hypertensive retinopathy, as secondary to the Veteran's service-connected diabetes mellitus.
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