VA Disability Rating for Benign Eye Neoplasms (DC 6015)

Diagnostic Code 6015 · 38 CFR §4.79

What Is It?

Diagnostic Code 6015 assigns no percentage of its own. In 38 CFR 4.79 the entry reads, in full, "Benign neoplasms of the eye, orbit, and adnexa (excluding skin): Separately evaluate visual and nonvisual impairment, e.g., disfigurement (diagnostic code 7800), and combine the evaluations." There is no rating column beside it and no ladder of percentages to climb. Your evaluation is built from two separate measurements and then combined under 38 CFR 4.25. The code covers non-cancerous growths in and around the eye but not on the skin of the eyelid — orbital hemangiomas and lymphangiomas, dermoid cysts, optic nerve sheath meningiomas, cavernous venous malformations, pleomorphic adenoma of the lacrimal gland, and benign eyelid tumors such as neurofibromas. Benign does not mean minor. A tumor confined to the bony orbit has nowhere to expand except against the globe and the optic nerve, so it can push the eye forward (proptosis), restrict the muscles that move it, compress the nerve and take vision permanently, or require surgery that leaves the eye displaced. Because the evaluation is additive rather than an election, read the word "combine" carefully. Visual impairment is measured under 38 CFR 4.75 through 4.78 and the visual codes at the end of 4.79 — visual acuity (DCs 6061 through 6066), visual field defects (DC 6080), scotoma (DC 6081), and diplopia (DC 6090). Nonvisual impairment is chiefly disfigurement under DC 7800. These two are evaluated independently and then combined; you are not asked to choose the better one. Note the ceiling that catches most single-eye claims: under 38 CFR 4.75(d) the evaluation for visual impairment of one eye cannot exceed 30 percent unless the eye is anatomically lost, though a nonvisual evaluation of that same eye combines on top of it. One more provision worth knowing sits directly above this code. DC 6014 covers malignant neoplasms of the same structures, and its second branch — malignancies not requiring therapy comparable to that used for systemic cancers — carries word-for-word the same instruction as 6015. If a growth is reclassified after biopsy, the arithmetic of your evaluation may not change at all.

Rating Criteria

Evidence Needed

Orbital imaging is the foundation — an MRI or CT of the orbit showing the lesion's size, location, and its relationship to the optic nerve and extraocular muscles. Pair it with a full ophthalmology examination that separately records best-corrected visual acuity in each eye, formal perimetry, ocular motility, and exophthalmometry readings (the millimetre measurement of how far each eye protrudes). If the tumour was removed, the operative report and the pathology report matter: pathology is what establishes the lesion is benign and therefore belongs under 6015 rather than 6014. Serial imaging over time is the single most persuasive document for a lesion being observed rather than excised, because it shows growth the examiner cannot see in one sitting. For the nonvisual half of the evaluation, clinical photographs in primary gaze are the evidence DC 7800 is actually scored from.

C&P Exam Tips

The examination has to produce two separate records, because the rating is built from two separate evaluations. Ask the examiner to document visual function fully — acuity, formal visual fields, and diplopia measured in degrees — and then, as a distinct matter, the visible characteristics of disfigurement: displacement of the globe, asymmetry, scarring, and any surgical change to the lid or brow. If only one of the two is recorded, only one can be combined. Bring your imaging on disc rather than trusting that it transferred. Report double vision by describing where in your field of gaze it appears rather than saying it comes and goes, since DC 6090 is scored by the degrees of the field affected. If the tumour is being watched instead of treated, say so plainly and bring the surveillance interval your ophthalmologist set, because an untreated lesion is often assumed to be an inactive one.

How to File

File under DC 6015 with the pathology report, orbital imaging, and a complete ophthalmology examination. Expect the decision to name other diagnostic codes: because 6015 assigns nothing itself, your percentage will be written under the visual acuity, visual field, diplopia, or disfigurement codes and then combined. When you read the decision, check that both halves are present — a rating that evaluates vision and is silent on disfigurement, or the reverse, has done half the job the code requires. If the growth causes double vision, say so in the claim itself so that DC 6090 is examined and evaluated rather than mentioned in passing.

Common Mistakes

The most costly mistake is treating the combination as an election. The schedule says "separately evaluate... and combine," which is the opposite of the instruction on neighbouring codes such as DC 6019, where disfigurement is rated only in the absence of visual impairment. Reading one code's rule onto the other loses a whole evaluation. A second error is accepting a rating built from acuity alone when the tumour has restricted eye movement — diplopia is rated under DC 6090 on its own scale and is easy to leave unexamined. Veterans also frequently assume a benign pathology report ends the claim, when the schedule places benign growths under a code of their own precisely because they disable. Finally, do not expect the page to show a ladder: there is no 10 percent or 30 percent step under 6015, and a decision that quotes one is quoting a code it has not named.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage does DC 6015 pay?

None by itself. DC 6015 has no rating column in 38 CFR 4.79. It instructs VA to evaluate your visual impairment and your nonvisual impairment separately and combine them, so every percentage in the decision comes from another diagnostic code — the visual acuity codes 6061 through 6066, visual field defects under 6080, diplopia under 6090, or disfigurement under 7800.

Can a benign eye tumour still qualify for disability?

Yes, and the schedule assumes it will. The orbit is a closed bony space, so a non-cancerous growth inside it can compress the optic nerve, displace the globe, restrict the muscles that move the eye, or require surgery that leaves permanent change. Each of those consequences is separately ratable. Benign describes the pathology, not the disability.

What if the tumour cannot be safely removed?

Some orbital lesions sit where excision would cost more vision than the tumour does, so they are monitored instead. Nothing in DC 6015 requires treatment or removal. The evaluation is based on the impairment that exists now, which means serial imaging and repeated visual-field testing are what carry an observation case — they document a moving target that a single examination cannot.

How does the 30 percent limit in 38 CFR 4.75(d) apply to me?

It caps the visual-impairment half of the evaluation, not the whole rating. If only one eye is affected and it has not been anatomically lost, the visual portion cannot exceed 30 percent. The nonvisual portion — disfigurement under DC 7800 — is a separate evaluation and combines on top of that 30 percent under 38 CFR 4.25.

My tumour was first called benign and later reclassified. Which code applies?

Malignant neoplasms of the eye, orbit and adnexa are DC 6014, which pays 100 percent when the malignancy requires therapy comparable to that used for systemic cancers — systemic chemotherapy, X-ray therapy beyond the area of the eye, or surgery more extensive than enucleation. If it does not require that level of therapy, 6014's second branch carries the identical separately-evaluate-and-combine instruction as 6015, so the arithmetic is unchanged.

Why does the rating decision list codes I never claimed?

That is DC 6015 working as written. Because it assigns no percentage, the rater has to reach for the codes that do. Seeing 6066 or 6080 or 7800 on your decision sheet is normal here. What is worth checking is whether both halves appear — a decision that evaluates vision but never addresses disfigurement, or the reverse, has skipped an evaluation the schedule requires.