Eccrine Coil Elastosis: A New Dermatopathological Feature Associated With Prediabetes and Diabetes

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus continues to rise. Cutaneous histological manifestations of diabetes include microangiopathy and atherosclerosis. No morphological alterations of sweat glands have been reported. However, eccrine coil elastosis has been observed in basal cell carcinoma biopsies of a patient with metabolic syndrome, a condition that may provoke elastin glycosylation and degradation.

We conducted a retrospective study analyzing the associations between eccrine coil elastosis and well-established cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors in 245 patients with skin biopsies. The type (stretching, thickening, waving, multilamellation and fragmentation) and extent of eccrine coil elastosis were assessed. In doubtful cases, confirmation was achieved through lysozyme immunostaining.

The presence of waving, multilamellation, and/or thickening in at least one eccrine coil was independently associated with diabetes or prediabetes. Associations were also found with cardiovascular complications, age, and actinic damage, but not with hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking, or overweight.

Although eccrine coil elastosis is not restricted to patients with prediabetes and diabetes, it is much more prevalent and appears earlier in patients with these two conditions. Detecting it in skin biopsies obtained for other reasons in patients with an unknown glycemic status may serve as a potential histologic clue warranting further metabolic evaluation.