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The VA orders this exam to verify your diagnosis and measure how severe it is right now. It can shape your rating and your monthly compensation — but it does not decide your claim. A rating specialist weighs it against your full record, and if the exam does not reflect your condition, you can say so and ask the VA to correct it.
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Lasting problems after methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection. Skin and soft-tissue involvement falls under DC 7820, "Infections of the skin not listed elsewhere (including bacterial, fungal, viral, treponemal, and parasitic diseases)", evaluated under the General Rating Formula for the Skin. Deeper complications are rated under the body system they affect.
The percentages this diagnostic code can be rated at. Which one applies depends on the findings — no tool here can tell you in advance.
Rated under 38 CFR 4.118, DC 7820. The examiner records findings on the DBQ; a rating specialist makes the decision.
| Rating | Rating criteria | What that means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | Characteristic lesions involving less than 5 percent of the entire body affected; or Characteristic lesions involving less than 5 percent of exposed areas affected | Your lesions cover less than 5 percent of your body and less than 5 percent of exposed areas, and you needed no more than topical therapy over the past 12 months. A 0% rating establishes service connection. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 10% | Characteristic lesions involving at least 5 percent, but less than 20 percent, of the entire body affected; or At least 5 percent, but less than 20 percent, of exposed areas affected; or Intermittent systemic therapy including, but not limited to, corticosteroids, phototherapy, retinoids, biologics, photochemotherapy, PUVA, or other immunosuppressive drugs required for a total duration of less than 6 weeks over the past 12-month period | Your lesions cover at least 5 but less than 20 percent of your body or of exposed areas, or you needed intermittent systemic therapy for less than 6 weeks over the past 12 months. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 30% | Characteristic lesions involving 20 to 40 percent of the entire body or 20 to 40 percent of exposed areas affected; or Systemic therapy including, but not limited to, corticosteroids, phototherapy, retinoids, biologics, photochemotherapy, PUVA, or other immunosuppressive drugs required for a total duration of 6 weeks or more, but not constantly, over the past 12-month period | Your lesions cover 20 to 40 percent of your body or of exposed areas, or you needed systemic therapy for 6 weeks or more but not constantly over the past 12 months. |
What supports this level
| ||
| 60% | Characteristic lesions involving more than 40 percent of the entire body or more than 40 percent of exposed areas affected; or Constant or near-constant systemic therapy including, but not limited to, corticosteroids, phototherapy, retinoids, biologics, photochemotherapy, psoralen with long-wave ultraviolet-A light (PUVA), or other immunosuppressive drugs required over the past 12-month period | Your lesions cover more than 40 percent of your body or of exposed areas, or you needed constant or near-constant systemic therapy over the past 12 months. This is the maximum under the General Rating Formula for the Skin. |
What supports this level
| ||
The middle column is our transcription of the criteria at 38 CFR 4.118, DC 7820, condensed for reading. Read the section itself on eCFR before relying on the exact wording. The items under each level are the kinds of evidence that document it — not a VA checklist, and not a prediction of which level applies to you.
Rating deep infection on the skin formula. MRSA that reached bone, joints, heart valves, or the bloodstream produces residuals rated under their own body systems — osteomyelitis under the musculoskeletal schedule, septic arthritis on the affected joint, endocarditis under the cardiovascular schedule. Those evaluations are typically far higher than anything the skin formula can pay, and each should be claimed separately.
Being rated on how often infections recur. The General Rating Formula for the Skin measures affected body-surface percentage and the duration of systemic therapy over the past 12-month period, not the number of recurrences.
Not documenting the total duration of antibiotic therapy across 12 months — systemic therapy for 6 weeks or more but not constantly reaches 30%, and constant or near-constant systemic therapy reaches 60%.
Not connecting the infection to service — document the setting, such as field conditions, shared berthing, hospitalization, or a surgical procedure during service.
These apply to every C&P exam, whatever the condition.