Skin tags: a cutaneous marker for diabetes mellitus

Two hundred and sixteen non hospitalized patients with skin tags (ST) were studied for the presence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity. Overt DM was found in 57 (26.3%) patients and impaired glucose tolerance test was found in 17 (7.9%) patients. Sixteen new cases of DM were found among this group. All the diabetic patients in the study population had non-insulin dependent DM. Sixty-two (28.7%) of the patients were obese. No correlation was found between the localization, size, colour and number of the ST and the presence of DM. Our study indicates that ST are not associated with increased incidence of obesity compared to the general population. On the other hand, ST are associated with impaired carbohydrate metabolism, and may serve as means for identifying patients at increasing risk of having DM.