What Causes Skin Fragility In A Type 1 Diabetic?

Posted on Sat, 22 Oct 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 22 Oct 2016 Answered on

Mon, 14 Nov 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : my skin has become increasingly fragile. I/m 66 years old, have type 1 diabetes, addisons, dead thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, and autoimmune asthma. If I bump my legs, they form expected abrasios, but the skin around those dies and sloughs off. Is this to be expected, or is there some other autoimmune skin problem?

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
not likely

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

this is not likely. Have you taken corticosteroids? They are very commonly prescribed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and sometimes asthma. Aging is another cause of thin and fragile skin. If you're having ecchymoses all the time then you'd better check your platelets and coagulation system. So a full blood count can check the number of platelets. Their functionality can be indirectly assessed by ordering the bleeding time test. Finally the coagulation system can be tested with INR(international normalization ratio) and aPTT (activated partial thromboplastin time).

I hope it helps!
Kind Regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar