A case of lipoatrophy with insulin detemir

Abstract

Lipoatrophy is a rare cutaneous side-effect that can develop at the site of insulin injection. Since the introduction of human recombinant insulin the number of cases has decreased although cases have been reported in association with the use of rapid acting insulin analogues and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII), recently one case has been reported with the use of insulin glargine. Insulin-induced lipoatrophy is a subcutaneous fat atrophy at the sites of injection which is relevant not only because of the cosmetic problem, but also because of the variability of absorption it causes in the site of injection. This report describes a patient with a type 1 diabetes mellitus who develops a lipoatrophy induced by insulin detemir. To our understanding this is one of the first reported cases of lipoatrophy induced by insulin detemir.