Deviated Septum

A deviated septum has the shortest rating entry in the respiratory schedule. Under DC 6502 in 38 CFR § 4.97, a traumatic deviation of the nasal septum rates 10 percent when it produces 50-percent obstruction of the nasal passage on both sides, or complete obstruction on one side. That is the whole code. There is no 20 percent, no 30 percent, and no path above 10 within the code itself.

Two consequences follow. First, the code says "traumatic only." A congenital deviation by itself is not covered by DC 6502; a claim involving a pre-existing deviation needs evidence of in-service trauma or legally sufficient aggravation and must identify the resulting disability. Second, rhinitis, sinusitis, and sleep apnea have separate diagnostic frameworks. They may be claimed when the medical evidence supports direct or secondary service connection, but a septum rating does not establish those relationships automatically.

This page walks through the one-code-one-rating schedule, the traumatic-origin rule and the combat exception, what the obstruction measurement requires, the septum-as-root framing with each downstream condition's own rating logic, what septoplasty does to a claim, and the failure modes that kill these claims.

TL;DR

• Deviated septum is rated under DC 6502: a single 10 percent level, requiring 50-percent obstruction on both sides or complete obstruction on one side.
• The code covers traumatic deviation only. A congenital deviation by itself is not covered; an aggravation or superimposed-trauma theory requires supporting evidence and a medical link to service.
• Combat veterans can establish the in-service facial trauma through lay testimony consistent with combat service under 38 U.S.C. § 1154(b), even without service records of the injury.
• The obstruction measurement is the entire criteria: ask the examiner to state percentages for each side explicitly.
• Rhinitis, sinusitis, and sleep apnea have separate codes and may be claimed when the evidence supports their own service-connection elements. The septum alone does not establish those claims.
• Septoplasty does not erase service connection, but successful correction can reduce the ratable obstruction; residuals and complications are rated on what remains.
• No verified aggregate Board-outcome figure for deviated-septum-specific claims was available, so this page publishes no outcome statistic.

DC 6502: One Code, One Rating

The complete entry:

6502 Septum, nasal, deviation of: Traumatic only, With 50-percent obstruction of the nasal passage on both sides or complete obstruction on one side, 10%

Three facts are packed into two lines. The deviation must be traumatic. The obstruction must hit the threshold: half-blocked on both sides or fully blocked on one. And 10 percent is the only level the code offers. A veteran with a severely deviated septum and a veteran with a barely-qualifying one receive the same 10 percent, because the code has no severity ladder.

Note the threshold differs from the rhinitis code next door. DC 6522 requires obstruction "greater than 50 percent." DC 6502 says "50-percent obstruction," without the "greater than." Read the current text of each code before assuming the rules are identical, because they are not.

The Origin Rule: Trauma, Congenital, and Combat

Traumatic origin is the code's front door. The in-service events that produce traumatic deviation are well known to anyone who wore the uniform: a knee or elbow to the face in combatives, a fall, a vehicle accident, blast concussion, a rifle's recoil on a bad cheek weld, sports. The cleanest files have service treatment records documenting the nasal injury or fracture. When records are thin, a lay statement describing the injury still carries weight, and a septoplasty operative report often documents both the deviation and its traumatic character in one document.

A congenital deviation requires a different analysis. DC 6502 covers traumatic deviation only. When a deviation pre-existed service, the record must identify an in-service trauma or legally sufficient aggravation and connect the current obstructive disability to that service event or worsening. Section 3.306 supplies the general aggravation framework, but the word "traumatic" in DC 6502 still matters.

Combat service relaxes the proof of the injury itself. Under 38 U.S.C. § 1154(b), a combat veteran's lay testimony of facial or nasal trauma consistent with the circumstances of combat can establish the in-service event even without records. The claim still needs the current exam showing traumatic-pattern deviation with qualifying obstruction, and the combat participation still has to be established.

The Obstruction Measurement Is the Whole Criteria

Every other piece of a deviated septum claim gets you to the exam. The exam is where the 10 percent lives or dies. The DBQ for nose and sinus conditions asks the examiner to assess airflow through each nasal passage and to document the degree of obstruction. The claim is strongest when the examiner states a percentage for each side explicitly. "Significant right-sided obstruction" is not a percentage, and raters cannot apply a percentage-based criterion to an adjective.

What helps: ENT notes with per-side obstruction estimates recorded over time, endoscopy reports describing the deviation and the airway, and the preoperative workup if septoplasty ever happened. What hurts: a single exam with no quantification, obstruction noted only during a cold or allergy flare (the criteria read as structural, and flare-dependent obstruction points back toward the rhinitis codes instead), or a deviated septum with wide-open airflow, which is a 0 percent structural finding, not a compensable obstruction.

The Real Value: The Septum as Structural Root

A deviated septum rarely travels alone. Chronic obstruction changes what happens downstream, and each downstream condition is its own claim with its own schedule.

Rhinitis and sinusitis. A blocked passage traps mucus and irritants and impairs sinus drainage, feeding chronic rhinitis (DC 6522, 10 or 30 percent) and recurrent sinusitis (DC 6510 through 6514, up to 50 percent). When the septum is service-connected, these can be claimed as secondary conditions under 38 CFR § 3.310, and their ratings usually dwarf the septum's own 10 percent.

Sleep-disordered breathing. Chronic nasal obstruction forces mouth breathing and worsens snoring and sleep quality, and clinical research has found obstructive sleep apnea to be substantially more prevalent in people with septal deviation than without it. That is an association, not an automatic secondary service connection: a sleep apnea secondary claim still needs the sleep-study diagnosis and a medical opinion connecting the dots, and the strength of that opinion decides the claim. Apnea's own schedule (DC 6847) runs 0 to 100 percent with 50 percent keyed to CPAP prescription, which is why this chain matters.

Headaches and nosebleeds. Recurrent epistaxis and facial pressure headaches commonly ride with deviation. They are usually folded into the overall picture rather than separately rated, but they belong in the record.

One boundary keeps all of this honest: 38 CFR § 4.14 bars counting the same manifestation twice. The obstruction cannot be the whole of the septum rating and simultaneously the whole of a rhinitis rating; each condition needs its own findings.

Septoplasty and Ratings

Surgery changes the arithmetic but not the history. If septoplasty corrects the obstruction, the post-surgical rating can drop to 0 percent, because the code prices current obstruction. Service connection itself survives the surgery: the condition was service-connected, and any residuals, complications, or recurrence are rated on what remains. A file contemplating surgery should document the pre-surgical obstruction thoroughly, both because the rating history matters and because the operative report is often the best traumatic-origin evidence in the claim.

Common Failure Modes

No trauma documented. The claim presents a deviation with no in-service injury and no aggravation theory. The code's front door never opens.

Adjective-only exams. The examiner writes "obstructed" without per-side percentages, leaving the threshold unproven.

Flare-based obstruction. Airway blockage appears only during colds or allergy season, pointing to the inflammatory codes instead of the structural one.

The chain never claimed. The veteran wins the 10 percent and stops, leaving rhinitis, sinusitis, or sleep apnea, each carrying higher potential ratings, unclaimed or undeveloped.

Septoplasty surprise. Surgery corrects the airway before the claim is decided, and the current-obstruction criteria are no longer met at exam time.

Secondary Conditions and Neighbors

The deviated septum is the structural member of the nasal trio, alongside inflammatory allergic rhinitis and infectious sinusitis. Its highest-stakes neighbor is sleep apnea, the downstream claim with the largest ratings. Code references: /va-codes/6502 and /va-codes/6847. The secondary conditions tool maps the chains this page describes at a general level, and the combined rating calculator shows what the downstream ratings add to the septum's 10.

Bottom Line

The deviated septum rating is a fixed 10 percent, gated on traumatic origin and the stated obstruction threshold. The record should document the service event or legally sufficient aggravation and quantify obstruction on each side. Related rhinitis, sinusitis, or sleep apnea claims require their own diagnoses, service-connection evidence, and non-duplicative manifestations; they do not follow automatically from a septum rating.

Methodology and Limitations

• Data source: Rating criteria paraphrased and quoted from the current eCFR text of 38 CFR § 4.97, DC 6502, with neighbor codes 6522, 6510 through 6514, and 6847; aggravation from 38 CFR § 3.306; secondary service connection from 38 CFR § 3.310; combat-evidence rule from 38 U.S.C. § 1154(b); pyramiding from 38 CFR § 4.14. Criteria checked against the eCFR current text on 2026-08-06.
• Board statistics: No verified aggregate Board-outcome figure specific to deviated septum claims was available, so this page publishes no outcome statistic rather than borrowing a figure from a different condition.
• Limitations:
• The sleep-apnea association with septal deviation is described as an association found in clinical research, not as proof that any individual's apnea is secondary to a septum; secondary claims stand or fall on the individual medical opinion.
• Whether a deviation is traumatic, congenital, or aggravated is a fact determination for the record, not for this page.
• Obstruction percentages are examiner estimates and vary between examiners.
• These observations reflect the regulatory text and claim patterns, not legal or medical advice for a specific case.