Keratoconus - Should I Bother Applying?

[joefrozac]

Hey all.

I was diagnosed with keratoconus of one eye while in service and it is documented as service-connected. This eye is 20/100 uncorrected and 20/25 corrected. My other eye is 20/20 uncorrected.

The info that I've found online has been contradictory. Some says that it is not ratable. Others say that as long as I am diagnosed, my eyes automatically are both 20/40 and, therefore, result in a 0% rating.

Is this even worth applying for?

[dajoker12]

On 2/26/2019 at 6:49 PM, gypsyking46@yahoo.com said:

I did not have keratoconus when I entered the U.S. Air Force in June 1964, but was diagnosed with keratoconus after I was honorably discharged in February 1969.  I understand that keratoconus typically takes place over time and usually in teen agers and adults in their 20s.  I was diagnosed with keratoconus by a military  doctor at McChord AFB, Tacoma, Washington.  Since this disease is slow in progression, could it be conceivably caused by a head injury when I had an accident involving a fork truck that went off of a 6-feet high loading dock backwards?  I did sustain broken fingers, but could the fact that I hit my head during the fall cause, or potentially cause keratoconus?  Over the years I have had 4 corneal transplants (two in each eye) and three relaxation surgeries in which small incisions were made in the cornea to alter its shape.  

 

4

Keratoconus can have multiple etiologies, generally speaking, caused by environmental reasons or genetic. You would have to investigate the environmental impacts of it, and make an argument for it, and try to get a private doctor to provide a medical opinion concurring with an environmental etiology for it to hold water. If you could show that no other family members (if you aren't adopted) don't have the same issue, or better yet, a DNA analysis, to bolster it, that would be iron clad.