Version 2024

2024 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code B02.3

Zoster ocular disease

ICD-10-CM Code:
B02.3
ICD-10 Code for:
Zoster ocular disease
Is Billable?
Not Valid for Submission
Code Navigator:

Code Classification

  • Certain infectious and parasitic diseases
    (A00–B99)
    • Viral infections characterized by skin and mucous membrane lesions
      (B00-B09)
      • Zoster [herpes zoster]
        (B02)

B02.3 is a non-specific and non-billable diagnosis code code, consider using a code with a higher level of specificity for a diagnosis of zoster ocular disease. The code is not specific and is NOT valid for the year 2024 for the submission of HIPAA-covered transactions. Category or Header define the heading of a category of codes that may be further subdivided by the use of 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th characters.

Specific Coding Applicable to Zoster ocular disease

Non-specific codes like B02.3 require more digits to indicate the appropriate level of specificity. Consider using any of the following ICD-10-CM codes with a higher level of specificity when coding for zoster ocular disease:

  • Use B02.30 for Zoster ocular disease, unspecified - BILLABLE CODE

  • Use B02.31 for Zoster conjunctivitis - BILLABLE CODE

  • Use B02.32 for Zoster iridocyclitis - BILLABLE CODE

  • Use B02.33 for Zoster keratitis - BILLABLE CODE

  • Use B02.34 for Zoster scleritis - BILLABLE CODE

  • Use B02.39 for Other herpes zoster eye disease - BILLABLE CODE

Patient Education


Shingles

What is shingles?

Shingles (herpes zoster) is an infection that causes a painful rash. It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). This is the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you have chickenpox, the virus stays in your body. It may not cause problems for many years. But as you get older, the virus may become active again and cause shingles.

Is shingles contagious?

Shingles is not contagious. You cannot get shingles from someone else. But you can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if you have direct contact with fluid from their shingles rash.

The risk of spreading the virus is low if the shingles rash is kept covered. People with shingles cannot spread the virus before their rash blisters appear or after the rash crusts.

Who is at risk for shingles?

Anyone who has had chickenpox can get shingles. But the risk of shingles goes up as you get older. Shingles is most common in people over age 50.

People with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of getting shingles. This includes those who:

  • Have immune system diseases such as HIV
  • Have certain cancers
  • Take medicines that weaken their immune system, such as steroids and medicines you take after organ transplant

Your immune system may be weaker when you have an infection or are stressed. This can raise your risk of shingles.

It is rare, but possible, to get shingles more than once.

What are the symptoms of shingles?

Early signs of shingles include burning or shooting pain and tingling or itching. It is usually on one side of the body or face. The pain can be mild to severe.

Up to several days later, you will get a rash. It consists of blisters that typically scab over in 7 to 10 days. The rash is usually a single stripe around either the left or the right side of the body. In other cases, the rash is only on one side of the face. In rare cases (usually among people with weakened immune systems), the rash may be more widespread. It might look similar to a chickenpox rash.

Some people may also have other symptoms:

  • Fever
  • Headache
  • Chills
  • Upset stomach

What other problems can shingles cause?

Shingles can cause other problems (complications):

  • Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is most common complication of shingles. It causes severe pain in the areas where you had the shingles rash. It usually gets better in a few weeks or months. But some people can have pain from PHN for many years, and it can interfere with daily life.
  • Vision loss can happen if shingles affects your eye. It may be temporary or permanent.
  • Hearing or balance problems are possible if you have shingles within or near your ear. You may also have weakness of the muscles on that side of your face. These problems can be temporary or permanent.

Very rarely, shingles can also lead to pneumonia, brain inflammation (encephalitis), or death.

How is shingles diagnosed?

Usually your health care provider can diagnose shingles by taking your medical history and looking at your rash. In some cases, your provider may scrap off tissue from the rash or swab some fluid from the blisters and send the sample to a lab for testing.

What are the treatments for shingles?

There is no cure for shingles. Antiviral medicines may help to make the attack shorter and less severe. They may also help prevent PHN. The medicines are most effective if you can take them within 3 days after the rash appears. So if you think you might have shingles, contact your provider as soon as possible.

Pain relievers may also help with the pain. A cool washcloth, calamine lotion, and oatmeal baths may help relieve some of the itching.

Can shingles be prevented?

There is a vaccine, called Shingrix, to help prevent shingles and its complications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that healthy adults 50 years and older get the vaccine. Your provider might also recommend the vaccine if you are over 19 and have a weakened immune system. The vaccine is given in two doses.

If you have shingles, you can help prevent spreading the virus to others by:

  • Staying away from:
    • People with weakened immune systems
    • People who have not had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine, especially if they are pregnant
    • Premature or low birth weight babies
  • Keeping the rash covered
  • Not touching or scratching the rash
  • Washing your hands often

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


[Learn More in MedlinePlus]

Shingles

Shingles (also known as herpes zoster) results from infection by the varicella zoster virus. This common virus causes chickenpox (also known as varicella), which is characterized by itchy spots on the skin that cover the whole body and usually occurs in childhood or adolescence. After the body fights the initial infection, the varicella zoster virus remains in nerve cells for the rest of a person's life. Because the virus is controlled by immune system cells called T cells, it is generally inactive (latent) and typically causes no health problems. However, in some people, the virus becomes active again (reactivates) and causes shingles. Shingles can occur at any age, although it is rare in childhood and becomes more common after age 50.

Shingles is characterized by a severely painful, itchy, or tingling rash, most commonly on one side of the torso, although it can occur anywhere on the body. Reactivation of the virus usually occurs in a single nerve, leading to the symptoms of shingles in just the region of skin connected to that nerve. When the nerve connected to the eye and the skin surrounding it is affected, the condition is called herpes zoster ophthalmicus. This form of shingles, which accounts for about 20 percent of cases, can cause permanent vision impairment.

Some individuals with shingles feel throbbing or tingling in the affected region shortly before the rash appears. Blisters form in the rash area, break open, and scab over in a few days. Healing usually takes 2 to 4 weeks. Most people have only one episode of shingles, although it can recur in rare cases.

In 5 to 20 percent of people with shingles, severe pain continues in the affected region after healing of the rash, which is known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). PHN is the most common complication of shingles. It can also involve severe itchiness or an overactive pain response to things that do not usually cause pain (allodynia), such as a light touch. PHN can last weeks, months, or even years. The likelihood of developing PHN after shingles and its severity increase with age. The pain caused by shingles and PHN can disrupt day-to-day activities and reduce a person's quality of life.


[Learn More in MedlinePlus]

Code History

  • FY 2024 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2023 through 9/30/2024
  • FY 2023 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2022 through 9/30/2023
  • FY 2022 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2021 through 9/30/2022
  • FY 2021 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2020 through 9/30/2021
  • FY 2020 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2019 through 9/30/2020
  • FY 2019 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2018 through 9/30/2019
  • FY 2018 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2017 through 9/30/2018
  • FY 2017 - No Change, effective from 10/1/2016 through 9/30/2017
  • FY 2016 - New Code, effective from 10/1/2015 through 9/30/2016. This was the first year ICD-10-CM was implemented into the HIPAA code set.