The Board denied the Veteran's claim of service connection for melanoma, finding that there was no credible evidence of severe blistering sunburns during basic training and thus no in-service injury or disease. The Board also found that the Veteran's subsequent development of melanoma is not causally related to his service.
The deciding factor: The Board found the Veteran's statements regarding severe, blistering sunburns in service to be not credible due to the lack of treatment records for such injuries and the denial of any skin conditions upon exit from military service.
- Claimed conditions
- melanoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 20, 2018
- Citation
- 1810617
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 1810617.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for melanoma, to include SCC of the right hand, finding that it is at least as likely as not caused by exposure to radiation during service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for hypertension, equilibrium disorder (claimed as bad balance and equilibrium), bilateral restless leg syndrome, bilateral upper extremity tremor, melanoma, and acquired psychiatric disability due to a lack of adequate medical opinions regarding exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune and Agent Orange in Japan.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, hypertension, and melanoma. The Veteran's claims were based on exposure to herbicides at Fort McClellan, but the evidence did not establish actual exposure.
- Denied
The Veteran's lung cancer and metastatic malignant melanoma were not shown to be related to service, including exposure to herbicide agents or ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
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