WingmanOpen the free toolsWingmanOpen the free toolsIf the VA already service-connected your dry eye syndrome (also called dry eye, dry eyes, dry eye syndrome, my eyes are dry), it can cause or worsen other conditions that are ratable on their own. These "secondary" claims are where many veterans leave money on the table. Below is what a service-connected dry eye syndrome commonly leads to, why, and what evidence each one takes.
A secondary claim only works if the primary condition (dry eye syndrome) is already service-connected, and you have a nexus — a doctor's opinion that it is "at least as likely as not" the cause. More on nexus letters →
A chronically dry eye surface stays inflamed and irritated, and that inflammation is what the rating schedule actually has codes for. Be aware that dry eye has no listed code of its own, so it is rated by analogy under 38 CFR 4.20, and which code your rater picks changes what you can be paid.
What you'd need: An eye clinic record documenting the dryness and inflammation, tear film testing such as Schirmer or tear break-up time, and a count of treatment visits, since one of the two candidate codes pays on incapacitating episodes.
Severe, untreated dry eye can scar or roughen the corneal surface and blur vision. This is the less common path and we are flagging it honestly as a lower-likelihood link, not a usual one.
What you'd need: Corrected visual acuity measurements over time and an ophthalmology note attributing the change to corneal surface damage from the dry eye.