The Veteran's skin condition is granted service connection. The Board also grants service connection for the left and right hand disabilities, but remands for further clarification on the brachial plexopathy.
The deciding factor: The decision was based on the evidence showing that the Veteran’s current skin condition is related to his service, with the opinion being in equipoise between the claim and denial. The issues of the hand and brachial plexopathy were remanded for further clarification as to their etiology and whether they are secondary to other service-connected conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Acne, Left-hand disability (claimed as claw hand), Right-hand disability (claimed as claw hand), Left brachial plexopathy, Right brachial plexopathy
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 16, 2020
- Citation
- 20073272
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,084 · Granted: 20% (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 20073272.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for acne, finding that his pre-existing condition clearly and unmistakably existed prior to service and was not aggravated by military service.
- Granted
The Veteran was found to be precluded from securing or following a substantially gainful occupation prior to August 29, 2024 due to her service-connected disabilities.
- Granted
The reduction in rating for other specified anxiety disorder from 30 to 10 percent, effective May 1, 2025 was improper and restoration of the prior 30 percent rating is granted.,The reduction of acne rating from 10 percent to zero percent was improper and restoration of the 10 percent rating is denied.,The reduction in rating for lumbosacral strain from 40 percent to 10 percent was improper and restoration of the 40 percent rating is granted.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for nonservice-connected pension and special monthly pension due to duty-to-assist errors, including obtaining SSA records and scheduling a VA examination.
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