Until 1928 the only recognized cutaneous change in diabetes mellitus which had any possible diagnostic value was xanthoma diabeticorum. In that year Oppenheim1observed and described a condition which had a well defined clinical appearance and occurred only in diabetes. He called the condition dermatitis atrophicans lipoides. Urbach2reported the study of a similar case in 1932. He entitled the condition necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum. Since the report of these first two cases, other examples have been recorded by Galewsky,3Gottron,4Balbi5and Zeisler and Caro.6There is, as yet, no official international nomenclature for this condition. Because the majority of the observers have used the name suggested by Urbach, we have adopted it for the sake of convenience. LITERATURE Urbach2awrote the first formal article on necrobioosis lipoidica diabeticorum and since then has reviewed the condition in other contributions.7He regarded the