The Veteran's sleep apnea with insomnia is found to have begun during service and granted service connection.,There is no evidence of recurrent corneal erosions or corneal opacities in service, and the claim for these conditions is denied.
The deciding factor: Service treatment records did not show a diagnosis of OSA in service. The Veteran's first evidence of sleep apnea was in November 2009.
- Claimed conditions
- Sleep apnea with insomnia, Bilateral recurrent corneal erosion (previously including dry eye syndrome), Corneal opacities, Bilateral dry eye syndrome, Bilateral glaucoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 20%
- Decision date
- January 21, 2021
- Citation
- 21003384
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 21003384.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral dry eye syndrome is rated at a 20 percent rating under Diagnostic Code 6025, the maximum available for this condition.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal for service connection for alopecia areata is dismissed. The Veteran's claims of service connection for bilateral hearing loss and bilateral dry eye syndrome with vision impairment scars are remanded due to a duty to assist error.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the grant of service connection for bilateral dry eye syndrome was improper due to clear and unmistakable error (CUE), and thus, the appeal is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded due to pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including inadequate VA examinations and ineffective assignment of an effective date. A new VA examination is required to assess the current severity of his service-connected bilateral dry eye syndrome and cataracts, with a focus on whether a separate compensable rating for dry eye syndrome is warranted.
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