Body system: EyeRegulation: 38 CFR § 4.79
This rating covers the complete loss of one eye (through removal, trauma, or complete blindness). The VA doesn't rate the missing eye itself - instead, your disability percentage depends entirely on how well you can see with your remaining good eye. The worse your vision in the remaining eye, the higher your rating, ranging from 40% (if your good eye has 20/40 vision) up to 100% (if your good eye can barely see at 5/200 or worse).
Rating levels
- 100% — You must have lost one eye completely AND your remaining eye must have vision of 5/200 or worse (which means you can only see at 5 feet what a person with normal vision can see at 200 feet). This level of vision in your remaining eye is considered legally blind, so you would essentially have no functional vision in either eye.
- 90% — You must have lost one eye completely AND your remaining eye must have very severe vision problems - specifically, you can only see at 10 feet what a person with normal vision can see at 200 feet (this is called 10/200 vision). Even with glasses or contacts, your remaining eye's vision cannot be better than this extremely poor level.
- 80% — You have lost one eye completely, and your remaining eye has very poor vision of 15/200. This means that what a person with normal vision can see clearly at 200 feet, you can only see when you're 15 feet away from it. Your remaining eye's vision is so poor that you would be considered legally blind even with corrective lenses.
- 70% — You must have lost one eye completely AND your remaining eye must have very poor vision of 20/200 or worse (this means you can only see at 20 feet what a person with normal vision can see at 200 feet). With 20/200 vision, you would be considered legally blind and would need to be very close to objects to see them clearly, making daily activities like reading, driving, or recognizing faces extremely difficult.
- 60% — You have completely lost one eye (anatomical loss means the eye is physically gone or surgically removed), and your remaining eye has vision of 20/100 (which means you can only see at 20 feet what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet). This level of vision in your good eye is considered significantly impaired - you can read large print but would have difficulty with normal-sized text and detailed visual tasks.
- 60% — You must have lost one eye completely AND your remaining eye must have vision of 20/70 (which means you need to be 20 feet away to see what a person with normal vision can see from 70 feet away). Your good eye's vision must be correctable to no better than 20/70 even with glasses or contacts.
- 50% — You have lost one eye completely, and your remaining eye has vision that is 20/50 (this means you need to be 20 feet away to see what a person with normal vision can see from 50 feet away). Your remaining eye's vision is noticeably impaired but you can still function with glasses or contacts for most daily activities.
- 40% — You have lost one eye completely, and your remaining eye has vision that is slightly worse than normal. Your good eye can see at 20 feet what a person with perfect vision can see at 40 feet (20/40 vision means mild vision impairment in that eye).