Citation Nr: 18149379 Decision Date: 11/09/18 Archive Date: 11/09/18 DOCKET NO. 11-17 457 DATE: November 9, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent prior to October 3, 2014 and 30 percent thereafter for service-connected dermatitis is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from March 1983 to September 2009. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2009 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Salt Lake City, Utah, which granted service connection for dermatitis and assigned a noncompensable rating. The Veteran disagreed with the assigned rating and this appeal follows. In a May 2011 rating decision, the RO increased the rating assigned to service-connected dermatitis to 10 percent from the date of service connection. A higher initial rating of 30 percent was assigned from October 3, 2014. The Veteran has not expressed satisfaction with the increased initial ratings; this case thus remains in appellate status. See AB v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 35, 38 (1993) (when a veteran is not granted the maximum benefit allowable under the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities, the pending appeal as to that issue is not abrogated). In Board decisions dated July 2014 and September 2017, the claim was remanded for further evidentiary development. A review of the record reflects substantial compliance with the Board’s Remand directives. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268, 271 (1998). The VA Appeals Management Center (AMC) continued the previous denial in a June 2018 supplemental statement of the case (SSOC). The Veteran’s VA claims file has been returned to the Board for further appellate proceedings. 1. Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent prior to October 3, 2014 and 30 percent thereafter for service-connected dermatitis is remanded. The Veteran asserts entitlement to a higher initial rating for service-connected dermatitis. Regrettably, a remand is necessary for further evidentiary development of the issue on appeal. The Board is cognizant that the Veteran’s case has been in adjudicative status for years and that it has already been twice remanded in the past. Consequently, the Board wishes to assure the Veteran that it would not be remanding this case again unless it was essential for a full and fair adjudication of her pending claim. Although VA medical opinions were obtained in October 2014 and November 2017, the Veteran was most recently afforded a VA dermatological examination as to her service-connected dermatitis in January 2012. She recently asserted that her dermatitis symptomatology has significantly worsened in severity, affecting a larger percentage of her total body area and requiring the regular use of topical corticosteroids. See the Veteran’s statement dated August 2018. She submitted private treatment records dated in May 2018, which she contends document the severity of a recent flare-up of dermatitis. Additionally, while the November 2017 medical opinion indicates that the Veteran used over-the-counter daily oral antihistamines, Benadryl as needed, and hydrocortisone cream; the private treatment records show that the Veteran was prescribed steroids (Medrol dose pack) in March 2018. In light of the Veteran’s statements and the May 2018 private treatment records, the Board finds that the Veteran should be afforded a new VA dermatological examination to obtain contemporaneous, pertinent information to assess the current nature and severity of her service-connected dermatitis. See Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400 (1997); Caffrey v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 377 (1994); VAOPGCPREC 11-95 (1995). Prior to arranging for the Veteran to undergo further VA examination, to ensure that all due process requirements are met, and that the record is complete, the AOJ should undertake appropriate action to obtain all pertinent, outstanding records. The matter is REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain all outstanding records of VA evaluation and/or treatment of the Veteran. Follow the procedures set forth in 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c) with respect to requesting records from Federal facilities. All records/responses received should be associated with the claims file. 2. Arrange for the Veteran to undergo a VA dermatological examination to determine the extent and severity of her dermatitis. Access to the Veteran’s electronic VA claims file must be made available to the examiner for review in connection with the examination. The examination should be conducted in accordance with the current disability benefits questionnaire. In addition, to identifying all symptomatology associated with the Veteran’s dermatitis, the examiner should opine as to whether the Veteran’s skin disorder prior to October 2014 was consistently less severe than was indicated by the findings in October 2014. The examiner should also opine as to the severity and frequency of flare-ups since the effective date of service connection. (Continued on the next page)   All examination findings/testing results, along with complete, clearly-stated rationale for the conclusions reached, must be provided. L. B. CRYAN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD K. K. Buckley, Counsel