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October 10, 2007

Insulin Pumps, Other

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Question from North Carolina, USA:

An African American child with type 1 diabetes who has been using an insulin pump for about nine months has started developing “dark spots” at the pump insertion sites. I am not sure these areas are itchy or irritated. What might be the cause of this?

Answer:

From: DTeam Staff

He probably has some scarring at the point of insertion. This is not uncommon in children using pumps and may appear dark in a child with dark skin (the technical term is post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation). It is important to keep rotating the sites as much as possible, but I don’t believe mild skin scarring will affect insulin infusion efficacy much, if at all.

LAD