Winning Disability Benefits for Hidradenitis Suppurativa in Chicago, IL
If you have the skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), you know how it can alter your life.
The painful lesions and resulting scars can limit your ability to move your arms and legs. You may struggle to walk. You might be unable to work and earn a living.
To support yourself, you could qualify for Social Security Disability benefits, which provide monthly income assistance and Medicare eligibility.
Most of all benefits provide independence, dignity, and the chance to rest and take care of yourself.
But getting disability benefits for HS can be challenging. It’s often misdiagnosed as acne, ingrown hairs or boils. It’s a condition most people don’t understand or even like to talk about.
“While medical experts say that HS is relatively rare—affecting maybe one to two percent of Americans—the actual number of those living with the disease may be way underreported, because those with HS are often embarrassed to talk about their condition,” said Chicago disability attorney Demetra Geller of Nash Disability Law.
“Not only are the areas of the body where the disease strikes highly personal, but for some individuals, there is a foul odor associated with the condition.”
But the Chicago Social Security Disability lawyers at Nash Disability Law have helped many with HS before. You can talk to us. We know how to build your disability claim for HS.
Nash has helped thousands of people. We’re a leading disability law firm in Illinois and the country by the amount of benefits we’ve won for clients.
WE’VE HELPED MORE PEOPLE IN THE CHICAGO AREA WIN BENEFITS THAN ANY OTHER LAW FIRM.
We want to help you ease the financial fallout from hidradenitis suppurativa.
How To Qualify for Social Security Disability for Hidradenitis Suppurativa
The Social Security Administration (SSA) maintains a list of impairments with detailed explanations of when they consider a medical condition limiting enough to qualify for disability benefits.
If you match the requirements in the listings (which people also call the “Blue Book”) you could get disability payments.
Hidradenitis suppurativa appears in the Blue Book in the section on skin conditions.
To qualify for disability benefits for HS, the listing says you must provide medical records showing:
- Extensive skin lesions involving both underarms
- Severe lesions on both sides of the groin
- Severe lesions around the genitals and anus
- Frequent flare-ups
- How much pain accompanies your flare-ups
- Lesions that last three months
- The treatment you receive and how well it works
As with every Social Security Disability case, medical evidence showing the severity of your symptoms, and how they interfere with working, is crucial to successfully winning benefits.
With hidradenitis suppurativa, this could include documenting how pimple-like bumps erupt, grow deep into the skin, and become very painful. To make matters worse, they often rupture, leaking bloodstained pus.
“As the deep bumps heal, scars can form,” the American Academy of Dermatology reports. “Some people develop tunnel-like tracts under their skin. As the skin continues to heal and scar, the scars thicken. When thick scars form in the underarm, moving the arm can be difficult.
Thick scars in the groin area can make walking difficult.”
But convincing Social Security you should get disability benefits can be a big project.
“Even when you meet these listed eligibility requirements, the path to winning benefits is not easy to navigate,” said Dan Rosen , a disability lawyer at Nash. “The lawyers in our firm have fought hard and won Social Security Disability benefits for many clients with HS because we have conclusively proven that the requirements have been met, and we backed it up with extensive medical evidence.”
“Even if the listing is not satisfied,” he said, “we have successfully demonstrated that hidradenitis suppurativa prevented our clients from sustaining competitive employment either in their usual field of work or any other job in the national economy given their age, education, and work experience, taking into consideration the limitations caused by the disease.”
You can discuss your situation with the Chicago disability lawyers at Nash Disability, free of charge, and plan your path forward.
