June 25, 2025 • 8 mins
In this video, Leah B from Prestige Veteran Medical Consulting—an Army veteran and former compensation and pension examiner—explains everything veterans need to know about cataracts and VA disability benefits. She breaks down what cataracts are, how they may be caused or worsened by military service (such as through trauma, radiation, or steroid use), and the two paths to service connection: primary and secondary. Leah also details how the VA rates cataracts under diagnostic code 6027, the role of pre- and post-operative evaluations, and what documentation veterans should gather to support their claim—including medical records, lay statements, and physician opinions. She emphasizes the importance of CMP exams and encourages veterans to seek help from accredited professionals when filing or appealing claims.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Leah Bucholz (00:06):
Hey guys, it's Leah B from Prestige Veteran
Medical Consulting. I'm a USArmy veteran, physician
assistant and formercompensation and pension
examiner. So welcome back to ourchannel. Today, we're diving
into an important topic thataffects many veterans and that
is cataracts and VA disability.We're gonna cover what cataracts
are, how they're evaluated by VAand what veterans need to know
about service connection andcompensation.
(00:28):
So let's just get started. Sowhat are cataracts? So cataracts
occur when the lens of the eyebecomes cloudy leading to vision
impairment. They can causeblurry vision, trouble with
night vision, sensitivity tolight and frequent changes in
eyeglass prescriptions. Althoughcataracts are often age related,
they can also result fromtrauma, medication use, things
(00:49):
like radiation exposure or othermedical conditions, like
diabetes, that's a big one.
So cataracts in the militarypopulation. Military service can
increase the risk of cataractsthrough unique exposures, for
example, blast injuries,exposure to UV radiation, the
use of steroids for otherservice connected conditions can
all contribute. A 2013 studypublished in Military Medicine
(01:13):
found that ocular trauma wassignificantly more common in
combat zones, often leading tolong term complications,
including cataracts. So anotherstudy from the Journal of
Cataracts and Refractive Surgeryhighlighted increased rates of
early cataract formation inindividuals exposed to high dose
radiation, such as duringcertain military operations. So
(01:35):
primary versus secondary serviceconnection.
We talk about this quite a bit.So usually when we talk about
primary service connection ordirect service connection, we're
talking about a person who wasdiagnosed with a disorder while
on active duty or as a result ofsomething that specifically
happened on active duty. Andsecondary service connection,
we're generally talking about adisability that was caused or
(01:57):
worsened or aggravated byanother service connected
disability. So cataracts can beservice connected by one of
those two, either of those. Solet's talk about how cataracts
can become service connected ona primary basis.
So again, this applies when thecataracts were caused directly
by that service event. Soexamples could include an eye
(02:18):
injury that happened while onactive duty from shrapnel or
blunt force trauma, exposure toradiation or chemicals like jet
fuel, certain industrialsolvents. Secondary service
connection on the other handapplies when those cataracts
develop as a result of anotherservice connected condition. So
a common example would becataracts caused by long term
(02:39):
corticosteroid use to treatservice connected asthma or
autoimmune diseases. Diabetes,which may already be service
connected is another risk factorthat can lead to cataracts over
time.
So make sure your medicalrecords and documentation
clearly explain how yourcataracts are connected to your
service, whether directly orsecondarily, if your doctor is
(02:59):
willing to sort of make somenotes about that. So how does VA
rate cataracts? So this is notreally my area of expertise, but
I know it's important to youguys so I like to go over that.
So cataracts are rated under 38CFR 4.79 using diagnostic code
6027. There are two types ofcataracts VA usually considers.
(03:20):
So preoperative cataracts. So ifyou have not had surgery yet,
the VA is gonna rate thecondition based on visual
impairments. So postoperativecataracts, if you've had
cataract surgery and now have anintraocular lens, the VA
typically assigns a minimum 30%rating for each affected eye,
assuming that there's some levelof visual impairment remaining.
(03:44):
However, if your vision remainslargely intact post surgery,
your rating could be 0%. So thekey factor is how much the
condition affects your visualacuity or your field of vision.
So for significant complicationslike secondary glaucoma, retinal
damage, those can be ratedseparately or lead to a higher
overall evaluation. So someconsiderations veterans have
(04:06):
when filing their claim are ifthey're not comfortable doing it
on their own, they can work witha VSO, accredited claims agent
or an accredited VA attorney.You can search those guys on
va.gov. We've done videos andtalked about it a bajillion
times. Va.gov has a search toolwhere you can find an accredited
legal professional to help youfile those claims or those
appeals.
(04:27):
So you and your legalprofessional may consider
including things like relevanteye exams, specialist reports,
if it's a secondary claim, ifyou have a medical opinion from
your doctor or from anothermedical professional that can
comment on how it's related tothat other service connected
disability, any lay statementsthat may be relevant, about how
(04:50):
it's affecting your life andyour daily living. So cataracts
might seem like a commoncondition that can be tied to
your service, but they canreally have a real impact on
your quality of life, your VAbenefits, and just overall
functioning, right? Sounderstanding VA's criteria and
being thorough in yourdocumentation can make a real
(05:11):
difference. So just to touchvery quickly on the C and P
examination because we talkabout that quite a bit, we have
a big series on C and P exams.So generally speaking, if you're
gonna be evaluated for yourcataracts, it's probably gonna
be by an eye specialist or likean optometrist or an
ophthalmologist.
They're gonna do different typesof examinations and look at that
(05:32):
DBQ that you can find on va.gov.They're gonna run down that DBQ
for eye conditions, specificallythe cataract elements. And
you'll get a You should, afteryou file that claim, if VA
believes that there's enoughinformation to warrant exam,
they're going to send you apacket in the mail discussing
where your exam's gonna be, whoit's gonna be with, the doctor's
(05:53):
name, how long they've beenproviding those types of exams,
their specialty, you know, justthe five w's. Right? You know,
where the appointment is, allthat kind of stuff.
So then you're gonna show up tothat exam, the examiner's gonna
run down that DBQ and go overall the elements related to your
cataracts, talk to you about thehistory of your cataracts, when
(06:13):
it started, review any medicalrecords that you've submitted or
that VA has had, if you've beenseeing VA care or whatever, they
should have those documents.They're gonna finish the exam,
submit it to VA, and then theadjudicators are gonna take a
look at all the evidence,including whatever you've
submitted, your medical records,your C and P exam, and they're
gonna decide whether or not thatthey believe, VA adjudicators
(06:36):
believe that this is related toyour service. And if they do,
then they're gonna assign arating based on what we
discussed earlier, what the CFRallows for based on that pre
surgical or post surgicalratings and the elements that go
into ratings. And then you'llget notified, right? So I hope
(06:57):
this was helpful.
If you guys have any comments,questions, wanna share your
experiences, I always love tohear about it because it helps
me get smarter about what I'mdoing and also helps us in the
veteran community kinda supporteach other. So please drop some
comments and let me know whatyour thoughts are. If there's
anything else you'd like to hearabout from a vision perspective,
(07:18):
I think this is one of our firstvision videos we've done and
I've had a lot of people askingme for them. So if there's other
vision related videos that you'dlike to hear about, I'm happy to
do them. We did do dry eyesyndrome recently.
So if you haven't seen that one,check it out. It's a good video
as well. As always, thank youfor watching. Thank you for your
service and please like andsubscribe. Alright guys, thanks
(07:39):
again and talk to you guys soon.
Hey guys, it's Leah B from Prestige Veteran
Medical Consulting. I'm a USArmy veteran, physician
assistant and formercompensation and pension
examiner. So welcome back to ourchannel. Today, we're diving
into an important topic thataffects many veterans and that
is cataracts and VA disability.We're gonna cover what cataracts
are, how they're evaluated by VAand what veterans need to know
about service connection andcompensation.
(00:28):
So let's just get started. Sowhat are cataracts? So cataracts
occur when the lens of the eyebecomes cloudy leading to vision
impairment. They can causeblurry vision, trouble with
night vision, sensitivity tolight and frequent changes in
eyeglass prescriptions. Althoughcataracts are often age related,
they can also result fromtrauma, medication use, things
(00:49):
like radiation exposure or othermedical conditions, like
diabetes, that's a big one.
So cataracts in the militarypopulation. Military service can
increase the risk of cataractsthrough unique exposures, for
example, blast injuries,exposure to UV radiation, the
use of steroids for otherservice connected conditions can
all contribute. A 2013 studypublished in Military Medicine
(01:13):
found that ocular trauma wassignificantly more common in
combat zones, often leading tolong term complications,
including cataracts. So anotherstudy from the Journal of
Cataracts and Refractive Surgeryhighlighted increased rates of
early cataract formation inindividuals exposed to high dose
radiation, such as duringcertain military operations. So
(01:35):
primary versus secondary serviceconnection.
We talk about this quite a bit.So usually when we talk about
primary service connection ordirect service connection, we're
talking about a person who wasdiagnosed with a disorder while
on active duty or as a result ofsomething that specifically
happened on active duty. Andsecondary service connection,
we're generally talking about adisability that was caused or
(01:57):
worsened or aggravated byanother service connected
disability. So cataracts can beservice connected by one of
those two, either of those. Solet's talk about how cataracts
can become service connected ona primary basis.
So again, this applies when thecataracts were caused directly
by that service event. Soexamples could include an eye
(02:18):
injury that happened while onactive duty from shrapnel or
blunt force trauma, exposure toradiation or chemicals like jet
fuel, certain industrialsolvents. Secondary service
connection on the other handapplies when those cataracts
develop as a result of anotherservice connected condition. So
a common example would becataracts caused by long term
(02:39):
corticosteroid use to treatservice connected asthma or
autoimmune diseases. Diabetes,which may already be service
connected is another risk factorthat can lead to cataracts over
time.
So make sure your medicalrecords and documentation
clearly explain how yourcataracts are connected to your
service, whether directly orsecondarily, if your doctor is
(02:59):
willing to sort of make somenotes about that. So how does VA
rate cataracts? So this is notreally my area of expertise, but
I know it's important to youguys so I like to go over that.
So cataracts are rated under 38CFR 4.79 using diagnostic code
6027. There are two types ofcataracts VA usually considers.
(03:20):
So preoperative cataracts. So ifyou have not had surgery yet,
the VA is gonna rate thecondition based on visual
impairments. So postoperativecataracts, if you've had
cataract surgery and now have anintraocular lens, the VA
typically assigns a minimum 30%rating for each affected eye,
assuming that there's some levelof visual impairment remaining.
(03:44):
However, if your vision remainslargely intact post surgery,
your rating could be 0%. So thekey factor is how much the
condition affects your visualacuity or your field of vision.
So for significant complicationslike secondary glaucoma, retinal
damage, those can be ratedseparately or lead to a higher
overall evaluation. So someconsiderations veterans have
(04:06):
when filing their claim are ifthey're not comfortable doing it
on their own, they can work witha VSO, accredited claims agent
or an accredited VA attorney.You can search those guys on
va.gov. We've done videos andtalked about it a bajillion
times. Va.gov has a search toolwhere you can find an accredited
legal professional to help youfile those claims or those
appeals.
(04:27):
So you and your legalprofessional may consider
including things like relevanteye exams, specialist reports,
if it's a secondary claim, ifyou have a medical opinion from
your doctor or from anothermedical professional that can
comment on how it's related tothat other service connected
disability, any lay statementsthat may be relevant, about how
(04:50):
it's affecting your life andyour daily living. So cataracts
might seem like a commoncondition that can be tied to
your service, but they canreally have a real impact on
your quality of life, your VAbenefits, and just overall
functioning, right? Sounderstanding VA's criteria and
being thorough in yourdocumentation can make a real
(05:11):
difference. So just to touchvery quickly on the C and P
examination because we talkabout that quite a bit, we have
a big series on C and P exams.So generally speaking, if you're
gonna be evaluated for yourcataracts, it's probably gonna
be by an eye specialist or likean optometrist or an
ophthalmologist.
They're gonna do different typesof examinations and look at that
(05:32):
DBQ that you can find on va.gov.They're gonna run down that DBQ
for eye conditions, specificallythe cataract elements. And
you'll get a You should, afteryou file that claim, if VA
believes that there's enoughinformation to warrant exam,
they're going to send you apacket in the mail discussing
where your exam's gonna be, whoit's gonna be with, the doctor's
(05:53):
name, how long they've beenproviding those types of exams,
their specialty, you know, justthe five w's. Right? You know,
where the appointment is, allthat kind of stuff.
So then you're gonna show up tothat exam, the examiner's gonna
run down that DBQ and go overall the elements related to your
cataracts, talk to you about thehistory of your cataracts, when
(06:13):
it started, review any medicalrecords that you've submitted or
that VA has had, if you've beenseeing VA care or whatever, they
should have those documents.They're gonna finish the exam,
submit it to VA, and then theadjudicators are gonna take a
look at all the evidence,including whatever you've
submitted, your medical records,your C and P exam, and they're
gonna decide whether or not thatthey believe, VA adjudicators
(06:36):
believe that this is related toyour service. And if they do,
then they're gonna assign arating based on what we
discussed earlier, what the CFRallows for based on that pre
surgical or post surgicalratings and the elements that go
into ratings. And then you'llget notified, right? So I hope
(06:57):
this was helpful.
If you guys have any comments,questions, wanna share your
experiences, I always love tohear about it because it helps
me get smarter about what I'mdoing and also helps us in the
veteran community kinda supporteach other. So please drop some
comments and let me know whatyour thoughts are. If there's
anything else you'd like to hearabout from a vision perspective,
(07:18):
I think this is one of our firstvision videos we've done and
I've had a lot of people askingme for them. So if there's other
vision related videos that you'dlike to hear about, I'm happy to
do them. We did do dry eyesyndrome recently.
So if you haven't seen that one,check it out. It's a good video
as well. As always, thank youfor watching. Thank you for your
service and please like andsubscribe. Alright guys, thanks
(07:39):
again and talk to you guys soon.
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