[Sixth cranial nerve palsy associated with diabetes mellitus: a case report]

Diabetes mellitus is a rare but benign cause of cranial neuropathy. Extraocular motility disorders may occur in patients with diabetes, secondary to diabetic neuropathy, involving the third, fourth, or sixth cranial nerve. Rarely, simultaneous palsies of multiple extraocular nerves can occur. We report a 61-year-old man, a know case of diabetes mellitus, who presented with binocular diplopia secondary to sixth nerve palsy. Neuropathy of the cranial nerves, despite being a rare entity in diabetes mellitus, appears to be a serious problem from a diagnostic and therapeutic point of view. Although the prognosis is excellent, it remains a diagnosis of exclusion and retrospection.