Lipoatrophy secondary to human insulin: two case reports

We describe two cases of lipoatrophy, which has become rare with purified porcine and human insulins. In the first patient, it developed initially in the abdominal wall during treatment with purified porcine insulin and not with previous treatment with impure insulin. Other areas became involved after changing to human insulin and the originally affected area rapidly enlarged following a recent hysterectomy. The second patient had been treated with human insulin throughout (semisynthetic).