Necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum is a localized cutaneous lipoidosis, most often encountered in association with diabetes mellitus. It should be distinguished from the true xanthomas because of the absence of xanthoma or foam cells. Clinically the condition is characterized by papular or plaquelike lesions, usually on the lower parts of the legs. Microscopically it is characterized by the presence of necrotic foci which contain droplets of various lipoids which lie in the deep layers of the cutis. The first instance of this relatively infrequent condition was described by Oppenheim1 in 1929. The case was one of diabetes mellitus in which the typical cutaneous lesions appeared several years after the onset of diabetes. Oppenheim named this new condition "dermatitis atrophicans lipoides diabetica." In 1932, Urbach2 described a similar case in which the condition was likewise associated with diabetes mellitus, and gave the disease its present name. Since these first HISTORY