Skin Diseases and Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus and obesity alter skin physiology in ways that extend well beyond cosmetic concern, producing a spectrum of cutaneous manifestations—from the velvety hyperpigmentation of acanthosis nigricans, which can signal insulin resistance before a formal diagnosis is made, to rarer conditions like granuloma annulare, scleromyxedema, and necrobiosis lipoidica whose links to metabolic dysfunction remain incompletely understood. The skin in these patients is also functionally compromised, with disrupted barrier integrity, altered wound healing, and regional susceptibility to infection—a phenomenon researchers are beginning to formalize under the concept of the immunocompromised district. Investigators are actively working to determine which skin findings reliably predict early metabolic disease, how adipose-driven inflammation translates into specific dermal and musculoskeletal changes, and whether treating the underlying metabolic disorder meaningfully reverses the cutaneous pathology. Resolving these questions could make dermatologists important early detectors of systemic metabolic risk.

Works

30,524

Total citations

158,878

Keywords

ObesitySkin PhysiologyCutaneous ManifestationsMusculoskeletal DisordersDiabetes MellitusAcanthosis Nigricans