Veterans Blog

Some of My Frustrations With the VA

One of the issues that is still under appeal is the acne scarring on my face. Prior to joining the US Air Force in 1976 I had clear skin. It was a little on the oily side and I had dandruff, but my skin was clear. On occasion I would get a minor outbreak of acne and it would usually clear up in a few days. When I started Air Force basic training in July of 1976 I had clear skin. The very first day of basic training I had a change in my sleeping schedule, my diet, the amount of exercise I got, the climate and my hair went from long to almost gone! Dandruff fell off my scalp and onto my face every day. I remember complaining to one of the training instructors about this and he replied, "You don't need to see where you are going. I will tell you where to go. Just follow the guy in front of you." I never went on sick call while in the Air Force so I have no record of this outbreak.

When I finally did try to claim the acne scarring as service connected the VA used the lack of medical evidence from the Air Force to deny service connection. The other excuse was that the scarring occurred prior to my joining the Army. I appealed this decision and it was eventually remanded back to the regional office for further development. Currently, my claim is being handled by the Appeals Management Team in Washington, DC.

Recently, I sent some photographs of my face to the Appeals Management Team by mail. The post office's website states that the package was delivered on June 11, 2007 but I have yet to get the little green card back. I wonder if I put the wrong return address on it. Anyway, I am now waiting for the Appeals Management Team to look at those photographs and the one taken at the local VA hospital during my last Compensation and Pension (C & P) exam. The report from the dermatologist coupled with the photographs should be enough to get service connection granted for my acne scarring. However, with the VA you never know! Some of the excuses used in the past for denying service connection have been pretty out there! So, I just won't know for sure until I get the latest decision from these people.

I am trying to get a rating for the acne scarring, even if it is at 0%, so that I can get the VA to do something about the scarring. One dermatologist told me that only laser would remove the scars because they are too deep for anything else to work. I am very tired of the scarring on my face and want to get rid of these scars!

Other issues that are still under appeal include the rating for my right shoulder, GERD, my depression, allergic rhinitis and whether or not I can get a separate rating for tinnitus in each ear. There should also be an appeal for them denying my knee problems and my TMJ disorder, but those appeals never got processed. It looks like I am going to have to refile and then try to appeal again. However, I have been told that if I have too many issues open at one time it just slows the process down. So, I am going to wait until I get the final decisions and have exhausted all appeals on the current issues before I try again on the knees and TMJ problems.

Labels: VA Benefits

posted by Unknown @ 4:05 PM