Eye floaters are small, shadowy spots or specks that drift across your vision. While they might seem like a minor annoyance, floaters can make everyday activities like driving, reading, or working more difficult. They are a normal part of aging, but they can sometimes come from a more serious issue.
Getting an eye floater VA rating isn’t always straightforward. Below, we’ll explain how the VA evaluates eye floaters and how floaters can stem from another service-connected condition.
Key Takeaways
- Eye floaters are spots in your vision that can look like dark or transparent specs, lines, squiggles, or even cobwebs
- In order to earn a disability rating for eye floaters, you must first show your condition was caused by something you experienced during service or another service-connected illness.
- The VA doesn’t have a specific disability rating for eye floaters, but they can be rated analogously using the General Rating Formula for Diseases of the Eye. Potential ratings are 10%, 20%, 40%, or 60%.
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In this article about the eye floaters VA rating:
What are eye floaters?
Eye floaters are spots in your vision that can look like dark or transparent specs, lines, squiggles, or even cobwebs. Floaters appear to drift across your eye as you look side-to-side, and seem to disappear when you try to look at them.
As we age, the jelly-like substance inside our eyes (the vitreous) naturally begins to thin and shrink. During this process, small clumps of collagen fibers can form within the vitreous. When light passes through the eye, these clumps cast small shadows on the retina, which appear in your vision as eye floaters.
Eye floaters are a common sign of age-related eye changes, but can be a symptom of other conditions including diabetic retinopathy, eye injuries, or eye inflammation. They can also be caused by bleeding in the eyes from diabetes or high blood pressure.
Can you get an eye floaters VA rating?
The VA doesn’t have a specific disability rating for eye floaters.
Instead, cases are evaluated using the analogous diagnostic code that most closely fits your specific condition and symptoms. Analogous diagnostic codes for floaters often rate using the criteria found in the General Rating Formula for Diseases of the Eye. Potential ratings under this formula are 10%, 20%, 40%, or 60%.
The criteria for each rating is listed in the chart below:
The VA defines an “incapacitating episode” as an eye condition severe enough to require a clinic visit to a provider specifically for treatment purposes.
If your eye floaters are a symptom of another service-connected condition, it’s also possible they will be rated within the context of that condition. For example, if your floaters are linked to diabetes, they could be considered as a symptom and contribute to a higher diabetes VA rating.
However, eye floaters can only be rated once. If the VA considers them a symptom of another condition, it is possible that you won’t receive a separate eye floater VA disability rating, and vice versa.
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Service connecting eye floaters
The most important aspect of receiving a VA disability rating is establishing a service connection. A service-connected injury or illness is one that is linked to military service.
In order to earn a disability rating for eye floaters, you must first show your condition was caused by something you experienced during service or another service-connected illness. Floaters worsened by service may also qualify for VA disability.
To establish a service connection, you can provide supporting evidence, including:
- Military service treatment records
- Other medical records showing your diagnosis and the severity of your condition
- A nexus letter from a medical professional describing how your condition is connected to military service
- Lay statements from people you served with, family members, co-workers, or others that describe when your condition started and how it affects you
As mentioned before, eye floaters may be caused by an injury or inflammation in the eye. Other times, floaters are caused by another condition. Veterans may experience eye floaters as a result of:
- Diabetic neuropathy
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Severe inflammation from autoimmune disorders such as lupus
How Woods & Woods can help
Our team of VA-accredited attorneys, legal analysts, case managers, and intake specialists help veterans nationwide get the benefits they deserve. If you’re tired of appealing one VA decision after another, call us today for a free case evaluation.
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Frequently asked questions
The VA doesn’t have a specific disability rating for eye floaters. Instead, service-connected floaters are often evaluated under the General Rating Formula for Diseases of the Eye. Potential ratings under this general formula are 10%, 20%, 40%, or 60%.
If your eye floaters are a symptom of another service-connected condition, it’s also possible they will be rated within the context of that condition.
Eye floaters are often a symptom of another condition. Veterans may be more at risk of experiencing eye floaters as a result of:
– Diabetic neuropathy
– Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
– Severe inflammation from autoimmune disorders such as lupus
Neil Woods
Neil Woods is a VA disability attorney and the owner and president of Woods & Woods. He received his law degree from Western Michigan University.
