Welding flash, chemical splash, a nail from a nail gun, grinder debris — eye claims arrive from the trades, but the schedule prices them like office equipment: clerical work draws variant I for vision, the top of the common groups. Sustained near vision is desk-work capital, the same sensory logic as hearing. Every figure below is computed by the rating engine.
How eye injuries are measured
The AMA Guides rate the visual system by corrected acuity in both eyes (12.01.00.00), visual field loss (12.02), and combined visual-system impairment (12.03). Rough anchors: modest monocular acuity loss runs single digits WPI; total loss of one eye lands in the mid-20s WPI when the fellow eye is intact; significant bilateral impairment climbs into the 30s and beyond. Double vision, glare sensitivity, and field cuts add impairment beyond raw acuity.
The money table
Final PD and total indemnity at age 37–41, 2026 injury, maximum PD rate, before apportionment:
| WPI | Clerical · 111 | Custodian · 340 | Carpenter · 380 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5% | 11% · $9,932.50 | 7% · $6,090 | 10% · $8,772.50 |
| 10% | 20% · $21,895 | 14% · $13,412.50 | 18% · $18,995 |
| 16% | 29% · $36,177.50 | 22% · $24,795 | 27% · $32,697.50 |
| 24% | 43% · $64,380 | 34% · $46,110 | 40% · $58,290 |
| 35% | 58% · $97,222.50 | 49% · $76,560 | 55% · $90,262.50 |
The 24% row is the one-eye conversation: $46,110 to $64,380 in PD alone depending on the job — and the carpenter’s H variant sits between the clerk’s I and the custodian’s F because depth perception is jobsite safety.
Beyond acuity
Field loss and acuity loss combine within the visual system before the occupational step; head-trauma vision problems (tracking, convergence, light sensitivity after a concussion) rate under the nervous-system chapter and combine at case level; and permanent restrictions — no night driving, no work at heights without full depth perception — shape the settlement conversation past the schedule.
The future-medical layer
Eye claims carry long medical tails: specialty lenses, prosthetics and their replacement cycle, glaucoma surveillance after trauma, corneal follow-up. That stream belongs in the medical award and often outlasts the PD weeks by decades — in low-WPI claims it can be the larger number at the settlement table.
What this table can’t tell you
Wages below the maximum scale the dollars down, apportionment for pre-existing conditions (cataracts, refractive history) shaves the industrial share, and safety-device disputes can change the whole posture of a case. Companion pages: back · knee · shoulder · neck · hip · wrist · ankle · elbow · foot · hand · carpal tunnel · hearing · amputation · fusion · knee replacement · rotator cuff. Estimates for informational use; not legal or medical advice.
Rate your vision right here
Same engine as the tables above — pick your occupation and age, slide the WPI from the report, and carry it into the full calculator when you’re ready.