Citation Nr: 21064272 Decision Date: 10/19/21 Archive Date: 10/19/21 DOCKET NO. 17-33 295 DATE: October 19, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a skin disability, to include eczema and dermatitis, also claimed as bumps on both hands, is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran's skin disability had its onset during active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for a skin disability are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from August 2007 to January 2008, April 2010 to May 2011, and February 2012 to January 2013, to include service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations. His decorations include the Combat Action Badge. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from a June 2014 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In October 2019, the Board remanded this matter to obtain an examination and medical opinion, which were completed in January 2020. The Veteran relates his skin disability to active service. See July 2021 Written Brief Presentation; May 2015 Notice of Disagreement. The Board agrees. Service connection may be granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. The three-element test for service connection requires evidence of: (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship (nexus) between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Regarding the first element of service connection, a current disability, the Veteran has been diagnosed with dermatitis or eczema, atopic dermatitis hands/legs, and dyshidrotic eczema. See March 2021, November 2019, and October 2019 VA treatment records; January 2020 C&P examination. Thus, the first element of service connection is met. Regarding the second element of service connection, in-service incurrence, competent lay and medical evidence demonstrates that the Veteran's skin disability manifested in active service. In this regard, a February 2020 lay statement by a service member who served with the Veteran reports that the Veteran had painful bumps on his hands during their deployment and that the Veteran treated the bumps with cream. In addition, an April 2013 post-deployment health re-assessment (PDHRA) for a deployment that ended in December 2012 indicates that the Veteran endorsed "numbness or tingling in the hands or feet" and includes a comment referring the Veteran for further examination concerning "bumps on hands." Thus, the second element of service connection is met. The first two elements of service connection having been met, this case turns on a causal relationship between the current disability and in-service incurrence, otherwise known as a nexus. The January 2020 examiner opined that the Veteran's skin disability was less likely than not related to active service. This opinion, however, is non-probative as it is supported by an inadequate rationale. In this regard, the examiner based the negative opinion on the premise that the Veteran's service treatment records (STR) were silent for a skin condition. This statement is factually incorrect, as the Board already noted that the April 2013 PDHRA indicates the Veteran endorsed "numbness or tingling in the hands or feet" and includes a comment referring the Veteran for further examination concerning "bumps on hands." Accordingly, the Board finds the January 2020 negative nexus opinion to be of no probative value. Remand to obtain an addendum opinion is unnecessary, however, as it would simply serve to develop potentially negative evidence, which is impermissible where, as here, the record contains sufficient probative evidence to grant the claim. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(c) ("The development of evidence in connection with claims for service connection will be accomplished when deemed necessary but it should not be undertaken when evidence present is sufficient for this determination"); Andrews v. McDonough, 34 Vet. App. 151 (2021) ("Remand is inappropriate where the predominant purpose is not to allow the Board to make a fully informed decision unencumbered by error but to allow VA to obtain more evidence so that it can properly deny the claim."). Thus, the Board will proceed on the merits with the record as it stands. Although the record does not contain a positive nexus opinion, the record contains competent and credible evidence demonstrating a link between the Veteran's current skin disability and his "bumps on hands" noted in the April 2013 PDHRA. In this regard, the Veteran is competent to report on the observable manifestations of his skin disability and the persistent manifestations of the same since service, and to compare the current visible manifestations to the condition's appearance in service. See Charles v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 370 (2002) (holding that certain disabilities manifested by observable signs are subject to lay observation). As already noted, the April 2013 PDHRA observed "bumps on hands" and referred the Veteran for further treatment of this condition. In addition, a competent and credible lay statement indicates a fellow servicemember observed the Veteran self-treating a painful skin condition with cream in service that presented with bumps on his hands. The visible manifestations of the Veteran's skin disability are the type of condition which a lay person is competent to observe. Evidence of continuous symptoms since service includes VA treatment records in which the Veteran continuously reports the same symptoms and visible manifestations of the skin condition first observed in service, to include within one year of separation from service. See September 2013 (indicating "fluid filled bumps that burst, itchy" on the fingers and a persistent papular or nodular skin rash); March 2017 (reports of skin bumps and itchiness); August 2018 (the Veteran writing: "I am having eczema still. Liquid bumps that when pop, causes dry crater looking skins and my whole lower body is irritated where it is consistently itching causing me to scratch and tear my skin apart.") (emphases added); September 2018 (the Veteran writing: "I really need to see a Dermatologist as my skin is irritated and starting to bump. I am []constantly scratching myself tearing skin apart."). In addition, at the January 2020 C&P examination the Veteran reported that he developed bumps on his hands during active service and that they have continuously reoccurred since service to the present day. In sum, evidence of record establishes that the Veteran has a current skin disability and that he first manifested bumps on his hands during active service. The record also contains a negative nexus opinion of no probative value because its supporting rationale is factually inaccurate. However, remand for further development is unnecessary, because the record contains competent and credible lay evidence demonstrating continuous observable manifestations of a skin condition described as "bumps on hands" in service to the present day. Accordingly, for reasons and bases outlined above, all elements of service connection for a skin disability are met, and the benefit sought on appeal is granted. S. BUSH Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board D. deBruyn, Associate Counsel The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.