H54.8
ICD-10BillableLegal blindness, as defined in USA
Official ICD-10-CM descriptor (FY2026)
Legal blindness, as defined in USA
H54.8 is valid for submission on a claim — CMS flags it as a billable, specific code.
Inclusion terms
- Blindness NOS according to USA definition
Excludes1
Not coded here. An Excludes1 code should never be reported at the same time as the code above it.
- legal blindness with specification of impairment level (H54.0-H54.7)
Notes
- The table below gives a classification of severity of visual impairment recommended by a WHO Study Group on the Prevention of Blindness, Geneva, 6-10 November 1972.
- The term 'low vision' in category H54 comprises categories 1 and 2 of the table, the term 'blindness' categories 3, 4 and 5, and the term 'unqualified visual loss' category 9.
- If the extent of the visual field is taken into account, patients with a field no greater than 10 but greater than 5 around central fixation should be placed in category 3 and patients with a field no greater than 5 around central fixation should be placed in category 4, even if the central acuity is not impaired.
Related codes in H54
Where this code sits
- Parent code
- H54
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ICD-10-CM FY2026. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) / National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), “2026 ICD-10-CM Code Descriptions in Tabular Order” (icd10cm_order_2026.txt). Download the original file from cms.gov. Public domain (US Government work). Descriptors, billable flags and instructional notes on this page are reproduced from that file without modification. Krasyn adds no clinical guidance.