Photoessay: The Skin and Diabetes Mellitus
by A Huntley
Dermatology Online Journal, December 1995
Volume 1, Number 2
Scleredema of Diabetes
While it is common to find mildly thickened skin on the hands/fingers of persons
with diabetes, there is another (but uncommon) instance of skin thickening which
involves the back and the dorsum of the neck. This condition, known as diabetic
scleredema,
occurs in about three percent of diabetics and is almost totally limited to
those with adult onset disease.
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Figs 11,12. Two adult onset diabetic patients who developed scleredema of
diabetes. There is visible thickening involving skin on the back of the neck
and the upper back.
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Figs 13,14. The examiner is demonstrating the thicker skin on this patient
with diabetic scleredema. Tenting the skin on the shoulders can only be done
with very large skin folds as shown here.
Unlike the thickened skin on the dorsum of the fingers, scleredema is an
uncommon finding (about 3% of our diabetic population). The ultrasound
evaluation did not demonstrate a tendency for back skin to be thicker for the
diabetic population in general. We were also unable to demonstrate an
association of the diabetic hand syndrome with scleredema
All contents copyright (C), 1995.
Dermatology Online Journal
University of California Davis
