Necrobiosis lipoidica: only a minority of patients have diabetes mellitus

Although it is commonly accepted that necrobiosis lipoidica (NL) is associa ted with diabetes mellitus (DM), there is some controversy regarding the de gree of this association. In a retrospective review of 65 patients with NL attending our dermatology out-patient clinics we found that just seven (11% ) were known to have DM at the time of presentation. Seven further patients (11%) were diagnosed as having impaired glucose tolerance/DM at presentati on and over a 15-year follow-up period. Thus, only a minority of our patien ts with NL had DM.