The Veteran's claim for service connection for a skin disorder associated with herbicide exposure, bilateral hearing loss, speech disability, left shoulder disability, tingling in the hands, back disability, numbness of the legs with pain, PTSD, tension headaches, and TDIU was denied. The Board found new and material evidence to reopen the claim for a skin disorder but denied service connection.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's pre-existing acne vulgaris did not become a chronic disability during service and there is no clear and unmistakable evidence that it was aggravated by service. There is also no current diagnosis of chloracne or other acneform disease consistent with chloracne.
- Claimed conditions
- Acne vulgaris, Chloracne
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Gulf War
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 22, 2016
- Citation
- 1633149
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 1633149.
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Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The appeal for a compensable rating for acne vulgaris is dismissed. Service connection for tinnitus is granted, but the left foot disability claim is remanded.
- Granted
Service connection for GERD is granted and a 10% rating for hypertension is granted.,Disfiguring scars of the face secondary to chloracne are granted with a 30% rating from August 6, 2020. A separate 20% rating for painful scars of the face secondary to chloracne is granted. From June 19, 2025, a higher rating for disfiguring scars of the face and painful scars of the right groin secondary to chloracne are denied.,An increased 20% rating for chloracne is granted.
- Granted
The Veteran's claims for service connection for arterioslerotic heart disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus type II, chloracne, dermatitis, folliculitis, actinic keratosis, and dyshydrosis have been granted.,Service connection is established for the Veteran's arterioslerotic heart disease to include status post coronary artery bypass graft from July 25, 2011. The hypertension, diabetes mellitus type II, and chloracne claims are also granted under presumptive service connection due to herbicide exposure.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a lack of a VA examination for the Veteran's skin condition, including acne vulgaris. The Veteran is advised that participation in the VA process is important and his failure to attend an examination may affect the outcome.
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