Guide series
Skin Conditions and Scars: Complete VA Claims Guide Series
Plain-English guides to skin and scar VA disability claims: service connection for eczema and dermatitis, how the VA rates skin under 38 CFR 4.118, scar ratings under Diagnostic Codes 7800 through 7805, psoriasis, chloracne and environmental exposure, skin conditions caused by medication for another service-connected disability, the skin C&P exam, and the evidence each claim needs.
Overview
Start here: skin conditions & scars basics.
Skin conditions are one of the most common reasons veterans seek care and one of the most commonly underrated claims. Service exposes skin to heat, cold, sun, chemicals, solvents, fuels, sand, smoke, and equipment that rubs the same place for years. Some conditions start during service and never fully clear. Others start later, on medication taken for an already service-connected disability.
The VA rates skin under 38 CFR 4.118, and the criteria are unusual: percentages turn on how much of the body is covered, how much of the visible skin is affected, and what kind of treatment the condition requires. Scars are rated under an entirely separate set of codes that count location, size, stability, and pain.
These guides walk through both systems, the theories of service connection that apply, and what a claim file needs to show.
Skin Conditions and VA Disability: How Service Connection Works
How skin conditions are service connected, how the VA rates skin under 38 CFR 4.118 using body surface area and treatment, the direct, secondary, and presumptive paths, and where an independent medical opinion fits.
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Go deeper on your situation.
10 min readEczema VA Rating: How Dermatitis Is Rated Under Diagnostic Code 7806
How the VA rates eczema and dermatitis under Diagnostic Code 7806, what body surface area and exposed area mean, how topical versus systemic therapy changes the percentage, and the evidence that supports each level.
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10 min readVA Rating for Scars: Diagnostic Codes 7800 to 7805 Explained
How the VA rates scars: disfigurement of the head, face, or neck under DC 7800, deep and superficial scars by area under DC 7801 and 7802, painful or unstable scars under DC 7804, and other disabling effects under DC 7805.
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9 min readPsoriasis VA Rating: Diagnostic Code 7816 and Psoriatic Arthritis
How the VA rates psoriasis under Diagnostic Code 7816, why systemic and biologic therapy often drives the percentage, how psoriatic arthritis is rated separately, and what a service connection claim needs to show.
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9 min readSkin Conditions Secondary to Medication and Other Service-Connected Disabilities
How a skin condition caused or aggravated by medication for a service-connected disability, or by the disability itself, can be service connected under 38 CFR 3.310, and what the medical opinion has to establish.
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9 min readChloracne, Burn Pits, and Skin Conditions from Environmental Exposure
Which skin conditions are presumptive for Agent Orange exposure, why most burn pit skin claims are direct rather than presumptive, and what a medical opinion has to show in an environmental exposure skin claim.
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9 min readThe Skin C&P Exam: What the Examiner Measures and Records
What happens at a VA skin or scar compensation and pension exam, how body surface area and exposed area are estimated, what the examiner records about treatment, and why flare timing matters so much.
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9 min readSkin Claim Evidence: What Belongs in the File
A practical checklist for skin and scar VA claims: diagnosis records, flare photographs, treatment and prescription history, lay statements, exposure documentation, and the medical opinion that ties them together.
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