Non-infective skin associations of diabetes mellitus

A study of non-infective skin associations of diabetes mellitus was conducted on 100 consecutive outpatient diabetics over a 3-month period. 10 were insulin-dependent diabetics (IDDM), 24 insulin-requiring and 66 non-insulin dependent diabetics (NIDDM). A total skin evaluation was done for each patient with skin biopsy whenever appropriate. Twenty-three patients had diabetic dermopathy; the frequency of retinopathy in this group (39.1%) is significantly higher than that without diabetic dermopathy (6.9%) (p less than 0.001). There were 20 instances of cutaneous complications of therapy; 10 had insulin lipodystrophy (29.4% of 34 insulin users). Twelve patients, 8 of whom were overweight, had acanthosis nigricans. There were 6 Indians among them and all the patients had NIDDM. Eight had xanthelasma. Vitiligo occurred in 3.3% of those with NIDDM. Classical scleredema diabeticorum and cheiroarthropathy occurred in 2% of patients. One patient had atypical granuloma annulare. There was a higher incidence of xanthelasma in our study compared with studies done previously. Insulin lipodystrophy and acanthosis nigricans in the absence of classically described syndromes of insulin resistance seem to be fairly common phenomena and merit further investigation locally.