The Board remands the claim for an adequate medical opinion on the nature and etiology of the Veteran's trigeminal neuralgia, including whether it is related to service or secondary to a service-connected condition.
The deciding factor: The May 2023 opinion was found inadequate as it did not address aggravation separately from causation.
- Claimed conditions
- trigeminal neuralgia
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 30, 2025
- Citation
- A25039375
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.
- Partly granted
The Board granted initial ratings of 30 percent for trigeminal neuralgia and 40 percent for both left and right lower extremity radiculopathy, but denied an increased rating for contact dermatitis. An earlier effective date was also granted for the right lower extremity radiculopathy.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the appeal for further development, including obtaining relevant private treatment records and reexamining service-connected residuals of TBI.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for a headache disability to include trigeminal neuralgia; temple headaches; non intractable headaches, unspecified chronicity pattern; unspecified headache type; migraines; and temporal arteritis as further development is required.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for trigeminal neuralgia, resolving the benefit of the doubt in favor of the Veteran.
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