Visual field defects (DC 6080)

Rating levels

• 30% — You have lost vision in the same half of your visual field in both eyes (homonymous hemianopsia means you can't see either the left half or right half of what's normally in your field of view). This creates a significant blind spot that affects your ability to see objects, read, drive, and navigate safely. The vision loss occurs on the same side in both eyes due to damage in your brain's visual processing areas, not from eye injury itself.
• 30% — You have lost vision in the outer half of both eyes' visual fields, which means you cannot see things to your far left and far right sides when looking straight ahead. This creates tunnel vision where you can only see what's directly in front of you and slightly to each side. Both eyes must have this same pattern of vision loss in their temporal areas (the outer portions of each eye's field of view).
• 10% — You qualify if you've lost vision in the outer half of your visual field in one eye only. This means when you look straight ahead, you can't see things on the temple side (outer edge) of that eye, but your vision toward your nose is still normal. The vision loss must affect only the temporal (outer) portion of your visual field and occur in just one eye, not both.
• 10% — You have lost vision in the inner half of your visual field in both eyes - the part closest to your nose when looking straight ahead. This means when you look forward, you cannot see objects in the central area where your left and right eye's vision normally overlap, though you can still see things on the far left and far right sides.
• 10% — You qualify for this rating if you've lost vision in the nasal half (the half closest to your nose) of the visual field in one eye. This means when you look straight ahead, you can't see anything in the inner half of what that eye should normally be able to see, while the outer half of your vision in that eye remains normal.
• 30% — You have lost the bottom half of your vision in both eyes. This means when you look straight ahead, you cannot see anything in the lower portion of what should be your normal field of view (visual field) - it affects both your left and right eye equally. You would have difficulty seeing things like steps, curbs, or objects on the ground without moving your head or eyes downward.
• 10% — You qualify if you've lost vision in the bottom half of what you can see with one eye. This means when you look straight ahead with that eye, you cannot see anything in the lower portion of your field of vision (visual field), while the upper half remains normal.
• 10% — You would qualify if you've lost the upper half of your vision in both eyes. This means when you look straight ahead, you cannot see anything above the center line of your visual field (like looking through a window where the top half is completely blocked) in both your left and right eye.
• 10% — You cannot see the upper half of your visual field in one eye. This means when you look straight ahead with that eye, you have a blind spot covering everything above the middle line of your vision - you can't see objects, people, or anything in the top portion of what that eye should normally be able to see.
• 100% — You can only see within a 5-degree area in both eyes (visual field is the total area you can see when looking straight ahead - normal is about 180 degrees). This means your vision is severely restricted to just a tiny central tunnel in both eyes, making it extremely difficult to see anything to the sides, above, or below where you're looking directly.
• 30% — You have severe vision loss in one eye where you can only see objects within a very narrow 5-degree area (imagine looking through a tiny straw - normal vision covers about 180 degrees). This means you've lost almost all of your side vision (peripheral vision) in that eye, making it extremely difficult to see anything except what's directly in front of you in a very small area.
• 70% — Your visual field (the total area you can see when looking straight ahead) is severely limited to only 6 to 15 degrees in both eyes. This means you have extreme tunnel vision - like looking through a very narrow tube - where you can only see a small circle directly in front of you and have lost most of your side vision on both the left and right.
• 20% — You would qualify for this rating if you have lost most of your side vision (peripheral vision) in one eye, with only a narrow tunnel of vision remaining that measures between 6 to 15 degrees. This means when you look straight ahead with that eye, you can only see clearly in a small circle directly in front of you - roughly the width of a dinner plate held at arm's length - while everything else around the edges appears as a blind spot.
• 50% — Your peripheral vision (side vision) is severely limited in both eyes, with only a narrow tunnel of vision remaining that measures between 16 to 30 degrees wide. This means you can only see clearly in a small area straight ahead, similar to looking through a narrow tube, while everything to the sides, above, and below that central area is completely blocked from view.
• 10% — You qualify if you have vision loss in one eye where your remaining visual field (the total area you can see when looking straight ahead) is between 16 to 30 degrees. Normal visual field is about 180 degrees, so this means you can only see in a very narrow tunnel-like area in that one eye, while your other eye has normal vision.
• 30% — You have significant vision loss in both eyes where your field of vision (how much you can see around you without moving your eyes) is severely reduced. Your remaining visual field measures between 31 to 45 degrees in each eye, which means you can only see about one-quarter of what a person with normal vision can see - imagine looking through a narrow tunnel compared to normal wide-open sight.
• 10% — You qualify for this rating if you have lost part of your vision in one eye, leaving you with only 31 to 45 degrees of remaining visual field (the total area you can see when looking straight ahead). A normal visual field is about 180 degrees, so this means you can only see in a much smaller area - roughly equivalent to looking through a narrow tunnel that blocks out most of your side vision in that eye.
• 10% — You qualify for this rating if your visual field (the total area you can see when looking straight ahead) is reduced to between 46 and 60 degrees in both eyes. A normal visual field is about 170 degrees, so this represents significant vision loss where you've lost most of your side vision but still have some central and near-peripheral vision remaining.
• 10% — You qualify for this rating if you have vision loss in one eye where your field of vision (how much you can see to the sides while looking straight ahead) is reduced to between 46 and 60 degrees. Normal vision allows you to see about 180 degrees from side to side, so this means you've lost a significant portion of your side vision in that eye, though you still retain some peripheral vision.