SUBUNGUAL HEMORRHAGES - A PRIMARY MANIFESTATION OF DIABETES-MELLITUS

Subungual hemorrhages may be observed in a variety of systemic disease s and in some otherwise healthy persons. We describe three male patien ts who were referred because of toenail hemorrhages. Analytical invest igations showed hyperglycemia in all the patients. Toenail bilateral h emorrhages were the first manifestation of previously undiagnosed type IL diabetes mellitus in all cases. Ophthalmologic examination showed signs of background diabetic retinopathy in all three patients. The ex istence of retinopathy suggests that subungual hemorrhages might be du e to microvascular involvement and could herald the presence of diabet es mellitus.