The Board granted the veteran's claims for service connection for facial, chest, and back scars as residuals of basal cell carcinoma. The RO assigned a 10 percent rating for the facial scars and noncompensable ratings for the chest and back scars.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations showed that the veteran had multiple basal cell carcinomas on his face, chest, and back which were treated with excisions and resulted in residual scars. The VA examiner opined that these scars were related to chronic sun exposure during military service.
- Claimed conditions
- facial scars, chest scar, back scar
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- June 17, 2004
- Citation
- 0415594
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · Granted: 23% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 0415594.
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.
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The Board has determined that the Veteran's chest scar, which resulted from a burn injury during her INACDUTRA period in November 2020, is service-connected.
- Granted
The Board has determined that the August 2023 rating decision granting a TDIU was not an initial decision, making the appellant eligible for direct payment of fees from past due benefits awarded.
- Granted
The Board found that the appellant is eligible to receive fees from past due benefits awarded in the portion of the June 2024 rating decision granting higher ratings for bilateral upper and lower extremity diabetic neuropathy. The appeal was denied regarding eligibility for fees related to a chest scar rating.
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