Citation Nr: 25007553 Decision Date: 06/05/25 Archive Date: 06/05/25 DOCKET NO. 18-17 657 DATE: June 5, 2025 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for a skin disability is granted. FINDING OF FACT The evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's current lipomas began during military service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for lipomas, have been 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 from August 1968 to August 1972, to include service in Korea. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) from an August 2018 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ). The Board remanded the appeal in January 2020, December2022, and February 2025, for further evidentiary development. SERVICE CONNECTION Service connection may be granted for disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. In addition, service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (d). 1. Entitlement to service connection for a skin disability is granted. The Veteran asserts that he suffers from lipomas that arose during service. See June 2016 VA 21-526EZ, Fully Developed Claim; see also January 2025 Informal Hearing Presentation. Medical evidence shows the Veteran has had diagnosis of lipoma, actinic keratosis, and a hemangioma since filing his claim for service connection. See February 2013 VA treatment records. In a March 2018 statement, the Veteran reported that while in service in June 1972, he was diagnosed with mild acne of the mid back. In terms of this acne, he states that one spot was later identified as lipoma and that he elected to have it removed, although it is unclear from the statement whether he had the spot removed in service or soon thereafter. See November 1975 medical records (knot on back of neck -sebaceous cyst). He asserts that he is entitled to service connection on a direct basis, as his skin condition began in service. The first and second elements of service connection have been met. During a June 2016 VA examination for skin conditions, the VA examiner stated that the Veteran had a cyst removed during service that could have been a lipoma. The examiner also noted that the Veteran had been diagnosed with lipomas in June 1999 and currently suffered from 8 lipomas, 2 of which had already been excised and were benign. Competent lay evidence provided by a person who has personal knowledge of facts or circumstances may be accepted to substantiate the incurrence and nexus element of service connection. See Buchanan v. Nicholson, 451 F.3d 1331, 1335 (Fed. Cir. 2006) and Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 470 (1994). The Board finds the Veteran's lay statements, including statements taken during VA examinations, credible and competent, and supported by the medical evidence. For example, one examiner noted that lipomas were rarely painful and would thus not need treatment, but then found, in part, that the lipomas were less likely than not due to service as the Veteran's medical records in service or shortly thereafter, failed to corroborate the Veteran's lay statements. Another examiner noted the first occurrence of a lipoma in 1999, but later noted a post-service notation of a knot on the back of the neck in 1975. The examiners did not indicate that the Veteran was not credible in his assertions of multiple lipomas during and since service, and the Board finds no reason to doubt the Veteran's report of multiple lipomas during and since service. In summary, although a lipoma is not clearly documented among the Veteran's service treatment records, he is competent to identify the location and basic nature of a lipoma and to describe the chronicity of the lump he noticed, subsequent lipomas, and treatment during and after service. As the reasonable doubt created by the relative equipoise in the evidence must be resolved in favor of the Veteran, service connection for lipomas is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. Marcus N. Fulton Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Love, Kelsey 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.