The Diabetes Textbook

Abstract

Up to a third of people with diabetes will have a skin disorder associated with or accentuated by their diabetes. Occasionally a cutaneous association may even be the first manifestation of diabetes. Although rarely life threatening, these skin disorders are debilitating, often being very symptomatic with a marked effect on cosmetic appearance. Indeed quality-of-life questionnaires consistently show how patients are far more affected by conditions affecting their actual and perceived outward appearance as opposed to more obviously medically significant disorders. In this chapter we discuss conditions both directly associated with diabetes, its microangiopathy and the abnormal non-enzymatic glycosylation of proteins, and some associated dermatoses. These include diabetic dermopathy, necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum, diabetic blisters and eruptive xanthomatosis. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd..