The Board has determined that the veteran's current skin disabilities, including actinic keratosis and squamous cell carcinoma, are due to in-service sun exposure and grants service connection for these conditions.
The deciding factor: The evidence shows a history of significant sun exposure during active duty service, which is considered sufficient to establish service connection without requiring additional legal criteria like presumptive exposure or secondary service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- actinic keratosis, squamous cell carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 8, 2001
- Citation
- 0126169
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0126169.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claims for service connection for squamous cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, GERD, and Barrett's esophagus due to insufficient evidence regarding their relationship to in-service sun exposure or service-connected hypertension.
- Partly granted
The appeal for service connection for skin cancer was dismissed due to untimeliness, while the claim for squamous cell carcinoma was granted.
- Partly granted
The Board dismissed the claim for service connection for headaches and remanded claims for service connection for various other conditions, including open angle glaucoma, sensorineural hearing loss, asthma, heart disease, bladder cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for squamous cell carcinoma, finding that the Veteran's condition is related to his active service, including conceded in-service exposure to Agent Orange.
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