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S80.252 vs S80.259

S80.252 (Superficial foreign body, left knee) compared with S80.259 (Superficial foreign body, unspecified knee), from the official CMS tabular data. S80.252 and S80.259 code the same condition on opposite sides.

Relationship

Review

Laterality relationship

S80.252
Left
Superficial foreign body, left knee
S80.259
Unspecified
Superficial foreign body, unspecified knee

Same condition; these differ only in which side is documented.

These codes share a category and title and differ only in the side affected. The documentation decides which applies, and a bilateral code is reported only where the code set provides one.

Source: ICD-10-CM tabular list (laterality variant derived from the code title)

Can these codes be reported together?

Same condition, opposite side. S80.252 and S80.259 name the same condition on opposite sides of the body.

Same category and title, differing only in which side is affected — the documentation decides which one applies, and a bilateral code is reported only where the code set provides one.

Side by side

S80.252Superficial foreign body, left kneeS80.259Superficial foreign body, unspecified knee
Billing statusNon-billable header

Report instead: S80.252A, S80.252D, S80.252S

Non-billable header

Report instead: S80.259A, S80.259D, S80.259S

ClassificationS00-T88 — Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes (S00-T88)S00-T88 — Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes (S00-T88)
DefinitionSuperficial foreign body, left knee is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (S80.252).Superficial foreign body, unspecified knee is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (S80.259).
7th characterThe appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S80The appropriate 7th character is to be added to each code from category S80

Derived from the official CMS ICD-10-CM tabular data (FY2026). Not billing advice; verify sequencing rules for the encounter. All data sources