Diagnosis code help

Good morning,

I work for a doctor that does a lot of workers comp cases. We saw a client that had some dirty water (possibly infected with something) splash into his ear. How would you go about diagnosing that? Any help you can throw my way would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Tricky...

My first instinct would be to code it with V87.39 (Contact with and (suspected) exposure to other potentially hazardous substances) although, this code may even be a little too specific for this case. I'm not sure what other codes may fit these circumstances though. Hope this is helpful.

Cassie

Little more help...

Would you use the same code for a splash to the eye of dirty water?

Thank you

Possibly

Again, this is a tricky situation. The code should work, but if this was a work related accident there may be an E code that would be more suitable. I would suggest looking through those also. Happy Coding!!

Dirty water in Ear/Eye

You would use (V71.3 Observation following accident at work) if, and ONLY IF, after an examination/observation, a diagnosis or sign/symptom was not found to exist. If a diagnosis was made then you would use the diagnosis instead.

You could also use an E code as the secondary diagnosis.