Skin Conditions and VA Disability: What You Need to Know

Eczema, psoriasis, scars, and burns are just a few of the skin conditions that earn a VA rating for veterans. Whatever the service-connection, you deserve compensation if you have any of these from your time in the service.

Skin conditions are not the first thing that people think of when they discuss VA disability. However, life in the military can lead to a wider range of conditions and symptoms than many people realize. Even skin conditions that might sound minor can cause debilitating, chronic symptoms. Experts advise dermatologists who treat service members to educate themselves on the implications of skin condition diagnosis.

Shaving bumps, eczema, ringworm, and other ailments can impact your ability to perform your job adequately and affect your mental health. Severe skin conditions can be painful and even disfiguring. If you suffer from one of these conditions or any similar ones, seeking benefits could lead to significant monthly payouts for you and your family.

Of course, the VA must consider the condition linked to your time serving in the military. Some classifications may indicate a more likely link to a condition, such as if a person served in the “Blue Water” Navy, whose members people believed were likely to suffer Agent Orange exposure. Many skin ailments are common in the civilian world and the military, so it will be necessary to prove that certain exposures or living conditions during your time in the military caused or worsened the condition.

The level of benefits available will depend on the severity of your condition and how the VA rates each form of disability. If you are a veteran dealing with medical concerns that you suspect stem from your time in service, it is vital to reach out to a VA disabilities attorney. Woods and Woods, The Veteran’s Firm, maintains a calculator that you can use to estimate the benefits to which you are entitled. If you have one of the below conditions and believe that you qualify for benefits that the VA denied or owed more than the VA offered, an attorney can help you file an appeal.

Folliculitis and Pseudofolliculitis: Shaving Bumps

When a person shaves frequently, the practice can cause severe damage to their skin. In some cases, the damage will include an infection referred to as “folliculitis.” Folliculitis involves fungus or bacteria that can cause painful and disfiguring lesions on the victim’s skin. If you aim for a close-as-possible shave, you are at a greater risk of this condition. Once you develop folliculitis, continued shaving can lead to bleeding, pain, and further infection. You might suffer from painful lesions for many years, even after your time in the military.

Pseudofolliculitis looks similar to folliculitis but lacks the bacterial or fungal component. The symptoms also include painful bumps that might burst. Again, if you are trying to get a close-shave, this can cause you can suffer in-grown hairs that your body may attack as a foreign object. Pseudofolliculitis creates a risk of developing other infections as well.

When The VA Measures How Big Your Burn Scars or Eczema has To Be

Folliculitis and Pseudofolliculitis Barbae

Folliculitis and pseudofolliculitis barbae cause skin damage to your face. “Barbae” refers to a person’s beard, and men often suffer these conditions on their faces. Not only will these infections cause serious scarring, but they may also lead to permanent hair loss. If you have to keep shaving, the condition will likely only get worse. You might experience various emotional, social, professional, and physical consequences because the condition is so visible to others.

One of our VA disability lawyers goes over the Agent Orange Presumptive Conditions list in this video:

The Military Causes Folliculitis and Pseudofolliculitis 

Members of the military must face stringent grooming guidelines or suffer consequences. When the grooming requirements mean shaving over damaged and infected skin, a person can suffer scarring and greater risks of spreading infection. If you were obligated to shave as part of your role in the military, then developed folliculitis or pseudofolliculitis, that condition might result from your time in the service.

Occasionally, the military policy has allowed men with this condition to take leave from shaving to allow their skin to heal. Of course, for many veterans, the damage is done. If you suffered from this potentially disfiguring condition, you might qualify for disability payments.

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Eczema and Dermatitis

Severe eczema can lead to itching, burning, bleeding, oozing, and blistering. Those who suffer from this condition might also end up with infections caused by irritated skin. Dermatitis is similar and can lead to infections and discomfort that will impact the person’s ability to perform normal functions, including at their job.

Veterans with Persian Gulf Sand Lung and Skin Diseases

The Relationship Between Eczema and Military Service

In civilian life, eczema is still often a problem that impacts a person’s skin. Exposure to allergens, water, or chemicals may exacerbate this condition and other similar medical complications. If the exposure results from a person’s hobby, they might be able to avoid the triggering factor, and their condition can improve. In the military, service members often have no choice when it comes to these exposures.

Seborrheic eczema is a chronic type of eczema that can seriously impact a person’s health. Sometimes the triggers for this condition might be hormones or other medical conditions. If you were in the military, you might have developed seborrheic eczema because of contact with chemicals, harsh detergents or cleaning products, or frequent exposure to cold and dry weather.

If you suffered from severe eczema or dermatitis during your time in the military, the condition might have led to your inability to perform certain jobs. Once out of the service, you still might experience extreme discomfort and limits in your ability to work in certain fields. You may suffer from financial challenges because of the limits to your professional duties and loss of opportunities that otherwise would have led to significant earnings.

VA Disability Rating for Psoriasis

The Severity of Eczema and VA Benefits

If your eczema only impacts a small area on your hands and requires no treatment, then you might not be able to recover benefits. However, if the condition is serious, covers much of your body, requires treatment, and impacts your life, you could recover hundreds of dollars a month. Eczema disability benefits can add up to significant amounts if you have the condition on a large part of your body.

Tinea and Ringworm

Dermatophytosis, also known as tinea versicolor infections, or ringworm, appears on a person’s skin in circular, red, itchy spots. These fungal infections can occur on many different parts of the body. Clinical classifications involve the location of the infection. For example, tinea corporis refers to an infection on the body, tinea barbae refers to ringworm in the beard area, and tinea manuum exists on a person’s hands. You can also experience this condition around your nails, groin, scalp, or on your feet.

In addition to suffering itching and discoloration from ringworm, you can experience a secondary infection that will further cause health problems. Hair loss is also common when the infection impacts the person’s scalp and can lead to disfiguring results.

Ringworm and Military Service

You can develop tinea versicolor from exposure to another person with the infection, a pet, a locker room, or contact with soil. These infections occur more in warm climates. In the military, the climate where a service member is working can lead to an infection, but so can the close living quarters and communal facilities. An afflicted individual might suffer from repeated infections and struggle to rid themselves of ringworm. Treatment for these conditions can take extended amounts of time. If the condition covers much of the person’s skin, the symptoms can become disfiguring and debilitating.

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Understanding VA Disability Payouts

Members of the military who suffer from medical conditions because of their time in the service can recover disability payments. The amount of disability that a person can collect depends on a calculation, including the level of the disability and the veteran’s dependent family members. For instance, if the VA decides that you are 20 percent disabled, you will receive less than if they found that you were 50 percent disabled. If you have five children under eighteen, your payments will be higher than someone with no dependents.

The VA disability rating chart (downloadable Word Document) can help you learn more about the specific payments that you might be able to collect based on a particular condition. When it comes to calculating disability payments, you might be surprised by the various disability percentages. Conditions like dermatitis can lead to hundreds of dollars a month in benefits. As a former service member, the government owes you those payments.

Use our VA disability calculator to estimate your
combined VA rating and monthly payment

Based on the VA disability rating chart, a condition involving lesions on 40 percent of the body or more leads to 60 percent disability determinations. The VA will also rate the condition at 60 percent if the condition impacts 40 percent of a person’s exposed skin areas. If lesions impact twenty to 40 percent of the body, then you’ll get a 30 VA percent rating. Finally, for those with lesions impacting between five and twenty percent, the disability rating is ten percent. Dermatitis and eczema are among the conditions that are determined based on this system, which is the General Rating Formula for Skin.

Veterans who can’t hold down a steady job that supports them financially (known as substantially gainful employment) because of their service-connected disabilities are eligible for TDIU if they have:

• At least one service-connected disability rated at 60% or more disabling OR
• Two or more service-connected disabilities with at least one rated at 40% or more disabling and a combined rating of 70% or more

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If you are experiencing a skin condition, it is important to speak to a doctor. Many of these conditions will look similar to one another and other conditions. For example, bullous pemphigoid, a blistering skin condition, could occur along with eczema or be confused with eczema. Although a person cannot stack skin conditions that impact the same bodily area, it is sometimes possible to suffer from multiple conditions that cover separate bodily areas. In some scenarios, you may be able to claim a higher percentage based on the combined impact of multiple skin conditions.

The VA’s Avoidance of Pyramiding Rule

Recovering VA Disability Payouts

Title 38 USC offers benefits to disabled former service members as long as they were not dishonorably discharged. If you suffered a condition because of your time in the service, you might be able to collect monthly benefits. These benefits also apply in cases where your time in the service worsened an existing condition.

Filing for benefits will include a detailed application process. You will need medical documentation regarding your condition and its cause. The VA will also require documents regarding your dependents, such as birth certificates for any children.

Unfortunately, the VA will sometimes undervalue a person’s disability claim or deny coverage to a veteran who is entitled to disability benefits. Perhaps you made a technical error in your application, did not have enough medical documentation to support your claim, or the VA believes that your condition is not service-related. When these events happen, you do have the right to challenge the VA’s decision. An attorney can help you appeal your case and will advocate on your behalf.

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At Woods and Woods, the Veteran’s Firm, we’ve helped thousands of veterans with their VA disability applications and appeals. We’ve been adding staff and lawyers during the Covid pandemic to serve disabled veterans better in difficult times.

Call us today to discuss your VA disability appeal or your first application. The call is free and we won’t charge you a single fee until we win your case. We even pay for the postage for all of the documentation you send to our office. You can look for a VA disability attorney near you or call us and join the thousands of veterans living off of VA disability thanks to Woods and Woods.

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