August 14, 1999
Other Illnesses
Question from Texas, USA:
My 15 year old daughter is overweight and my husband has Type 1 diabetes. I took my daughter to the doctor and they noticed a skin discoloration in the skin on her knees, behind her neck and under her arms. The doctor mentioned that she was making too much insulin. Now we are checking for diabetes and I don’t understand. Some of the terms mentioned were “Frank Diabetes”. I am not familiar with this and cannot find any information.
Answer:
The finding of a dark color on the skin of the neck, arms and knees of your overweight daughter could be acanthosis nigricans. This is a dermatological disorder that may be present in association with insulin resistance (which might be clinically detectable, or ‘frank’, diabetes), or it might be associated with other endocrine diseases (such as obesity, pituitary tumors, or Cushing’s disease). It is characterized by brown, velvety raised patches in the body folds.
MS
