H53.1Subjective visual disturbances

H53.1 is the ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for subjective visual disturbances. It belongs to category H53 (visual disturbances), block H53-H54 (visual disturbances and blindness) and chapter 7 (diseases of the eye and adnexa). It is a header code, so it can't be reported by itself; one of its 8 subcodes must be used instead.

Within H53 (visual disturbances), H53.1 is specifically for subjective visual disturbances. Related codes cover amblyopia ex anopsia (H53.0), Diplopia (H53.2), other and unspecified disorders of binocular vision (H53.3), visual field defects (H53.4), color vision deficiencies (H53.5), night blindness (H53.6), vision sensitivity deficiencies (H53.7), other visual disturbances (H53.8) and 1 more.

To report this condition, pick the subcode that matches the documentation: H53.10 (disturbances), H53.11 (blindness), H53.12 (loss), H53.13 (loss), H53.14 (discomfort), H53.15 (size), H53.16 (disturbances) and H53.19 (disturbances).

Don't report H53.1 together with the conditions in its Excludes1 note: subjective visual disturbances due to vitamin A deficiency (E50.5) and visual hallucinations (R44.1).

It has been part of ICD-10-CM since the code set took effect on October 1, 2015 and hasn't changed since.