A 58-year-old man with type 2 diabetes of 12 years duration presents with multiple well-demarcated, round, reddish-brown macules about 1 cm in size scattered over both shins. They have slowly evolved into shallow atrophic scars. What is the diagnosis?
- A Stasis dermatitis
- B Necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum
- C Diabetic dermopathy ✓
- D Pigmented purpuric dermatosis
Correct answer: C. Diabetic dermopathy
Explanation
Diabetic dermopathy presents as small, dull red-brown macules or papules over the shins that heal leaving superficial atrophic pigmented scars; they are the commonest cutaneous marker of diabetes and correlate loosely with microvascular disease. Necrobiosis lipoidica is the key distractor but it forms larger yellow-brown plaques with telangiectatic violaceous borders and central atrophy, not discrete small scars.
Reference: Fitzpatrick's Dermatology, 9th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
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