The Board has determined that the Veteran's skin condition, including actinic keratosis and residuals of basal cell carcinoma, did not manifest in active duty service or within one year thereafter, and is not shown to be otherwise etiologically related to his active duty service. Therefore, the claim for service connection for a skin condition is denied.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found that the Veteran's skin conditions were less likely than not incurred in or caused by active duty service due to lack of evidence of any significant sunburn requiring medical attention during service.
- Claimed conditions
- actinic keratosis, residuals of basal cell carcinoma
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 7, 2019
- Citation
- 19177285
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.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for PTSD, bilateral hearing loss, allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, unspecified anxiety disorder, seborrheic dermatitis, and denied increased ratings for left shoulder disability, myalgia, left-hand disability, right-hand disability, right shoulder disability, kidney stones, plantar fasciitis, lung disability, actinic keratosis, and squamous cell carcinoma. The Board remanded service connection claims for several conditions.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and actinic keratosis based on the Veteran's in-service exposure to solar radiation.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and remanded the claims for actinic keratosis, neoplasm of uncertain behavior, and erythema.
- Partly granted
The Board granted an earlier effective date of January 19, 2023 for the award of service connection for actinic keratosis and remanded a claim for a compensable initial rating.
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