Chances of a waiver for eczema?

Hi everyone,

I did a search on the forums and didn't quite find anything to answer my question so here goes...

I'm a female hoping to enlist ASAP. 21 years old, single, no dependents. I lost 35 lbs to meet the weight requirements and got all my physical requirements up to IST standards (crunches are at minimum PFT standards.) I scored a 98 on the ASVAB.

I have eczema and when I was younger I fractured my arm, which needed pins (the pins were later removed). We sent up for my waiver to BUMED on March 3rd, and it came back May 13th that I was still DQ'ed but they wanted consults for an updated prognosis on both my arm and my eczema.

When I took my physical at MEPS, the doctor DQ'ed me for a scar on my wrist- self inflicted when I was about 13. I have no history of mental issues and I explained the circumstances of the scar to the doctor and he said he saw no need to send me on a consult for that too.

We resubmitted my papers with the updated prognoses on May 25th. Both prognoses said if it were up to the doctors examining me I would be cleared for service. The doctor for my arm says my arm looks better than some that haven't had surgery.

It's been three weeks... I am getting extremely anxious, especially when I think that by now I could have already been out of basic training with the amount of time I've been waiting. I understand the waiver is because I don't qualify for service and I am begging for an exception... but I have put everything else in my life on hold until I hear back. I have my heart set on the Marines, but I am worried my chances of getting a waiver for the eczema are slim to none.

Can anyone weigh in on this? How long should I expect to wait on this? What do you think my chances are of getting the waivers?

The Marines here have no idea how long your waiver will take, or even if it will be approved or not.


There are no doctors frequenting this website. If you have a medical question that hasn’t already been answered by searching the forums, you’ll have to contact a recruiting office. If they cannot answer your question, you may be directed to a medical representative from MEPS.

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=103170

I will chime in though....the waiver process takes time, esp. the 2nd time around. If you get it back within 60 days or less, consider yourself LUCKY. No kidding. It'll be looked at by multiple sets of eyes and then a decision will be made. The good news is you have a 2nd chance so at least they are considering you.

Bad news is that if they turn you down this time....well, I'd say that's going to be about it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SoftballCatch23

The Marines here have no idea how long your waiver will take, or even if it will be approved or not.


There are no doctors frequenting this website. If you have a medical question that hasn’t already been answered by searching the forums, you’ll have to contact a recruiting office. If they cannot answer your question, you may be directed to a medical representative from MEPS.

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=103170

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I understand. I was just hoping there may be someone with a similar experience that could shed some light on what I should expect. My recruiter, and those he works with, were pretty surprised that my waiver took 3 months for the initial response. They said as far as they knew it was 30 days, bam, you had an answer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sgt Leprechaun

I will chime in though....the waiver process takes time, esp. the 2nd time around. If you get it back within 60 days or less, consider yourself LUCKY. No kidding. It'll be looked at by multiple sets of eyes and then a decision will be made. The good news is you have a 2nd chance so at least they are considering you.

Bad news is that if they turn you down this time....well, I'd say that's going to be about it.

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Thank you for this. :) I figured I was probably looking at about 90 days (again) before hearing back, I suppose the good news is that I'm already almost 1/3 of the way there...

Also I know if I am DQ'ed permanently this time, there's no way to "appeal" it... the consults and waiver requests pretty much ARE my appeals. Though I am told I could still join AF or Army (just not Navy, since it's the same BUMED...).

Good luck. Seriously. Keep us updated. I'll leave the thread open for you.

Thanks Sgt.

Here's an update... nothing final yet, but they came back last week and asked for a psych eval for my wrist (just like I knew they would...). I had my eval last Monday morning, and was told that it would be two weeks before everything could be resubmitted to BUMED and then another 4 months at least to hear back on that.

Unfortunately, this past Monday I rolled my car and fractured my C6 vertebrae. My recruiter says so long as there is no retained hardware this shouldn't be an issue, but we will have to check with the doctor at MEPs after I've recovered.

Once I hear back on that, and on the rest of the waivers, I'll update everyone. :) Thank you all.

From my time working with the recruiters, eczema is something that usually DQs people. We had a kid get DQ'd for eczema a few months ago, and I guess he hadn't had it in a few years. We had kids who have had waivers out for a year or so and still haven't heard anything on their stuff.