Burn scar(s) of the head, face, or neck; scar(s) of the head, face, or neck due to other causes; or other disfigurement of the head, face, or neck — VA Diagnostic Code 7800

Note (1): The 8 characteristics of disfigurement, for purposes of evaluation under § 4.118, are:

Scar 5 or more inches (13 or more cm.) in length.

Scar at least one-quarter inch (0.6 cm.) wide at widest part.

Surface contour of scar elevated or depressed on palpation.

Scar adherent to underlying tissue.

Skin hypo-or hyper-pigmented in an area exceeding six square inches (39 sq. cm.).

Skin texture abnormal (irregular, atrophic, shiny, scaly, etc.) in an area exceeding six square inches (39 sq. cm.).

Underlying soft tissue missing in an area exceeding six square inches (39 sq. cm.).

Skin indurated and inflexible in an area exceeding six square inches (39 sq. cm.).

The pigment sentence prints “hypo-or” with a hyphen and no space. The square-inch lines use “sq. cm.” with periods.

Note (2): Rate tissue loss of the auricle under DC 6207 (loss of auricle) and anatomical loss of the eye under DC 6061 (anatomical loss of both eyes) or DC 6063 (anatomical loss of one eye), as appropriate.

Note (3): Take into consideration unretouched color photographs when evaluating under these criteria.

Note (4): Separately evaluate disabling effects other than disfigurement that are associated with individual scar(s) of the head, face, or neck, such as pain, instability, and residuals of associated muscle or nerve injury, under the appropriate diagnostic code(s) and apply § 4.25 to combine the evaluation(s) with the evaluation assigned under this diagnostic code.

Note (5): The characteristic(s) of disfigurement may be caused by one scar or by multiple scars; the characteristic(s) required to assign a particular evaluation need not be caused by a single scar in order to assign that evaluation.

The 80 and 50 percent lines say “features or paired sets of features.” The 30 percent line says “one feature or paired set of features.”

DC 7800 prints 80, 50, 30, and 10, and Note (1) lists eight characteristics. This page does not say the form replaces those lines.

Section 3.309 does not contain “scar,” and it does not assign DC 7800. This page does not add DC 7800 to a presumptive row.

A separate question, when a presumption does not decide it, is a medical question on the facts under 38 CFR § 3.310. Paragraph (a) covers disability proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury. Paragraph (b) covers increase in severity and requires a medical baseline.