The Board has granted service connection for photophobia, finding that the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's condition is related to his active duty service.
The deciding factor: The decision was based on the Veteran's competent and credible lay statements regarding the onset of his light sensitivity symptom during service and its persistence since then, despite a lack of contemporaneous medical records indicating such an issue.
- Claimed conditions
- photophobia
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 24, 2019
- Citation
- 19180724
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection of photophobia to obtain a new VA opinion that adequately addresses its etiology, including whether it is related to the Veteran's active duty or secondary to his service-connected psychiatric condition.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection and increased ratings, finding that the evidence did not support a compensable disability rating or service connection for any of the claimed conditions.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for panic disorder/obsessive compulsive disorder, irritable bowel syndrome/functional abdominal pain syndrome/abdominal pain & bloating, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), sleep apnea, photophobia, tinnitus, and tremors of the hands.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for bilateral knee injury, head injury, photophobia, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and schizophrenia to allow VA to obtain potentially relevant Social Security Administration records.
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