{
  "id": 13596526,
  "title": "Can you really tell if someone has high blood sugar by looking at their face?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/can-you-really-tell-if-someone-has-high-blood-sugar-by-looking-at-13596526",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-11T00:30:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express - Lifestyle",
    "slug": "the-indian-express-lifestyle",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/can-you-really-tell-if-someone-has-high-blood-sugar-by-looking-at-their-face-10909501/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Can you really determine if someone has high blood sugar by examining their facial features? The answer is no. Social media might suggest otherwise, with red patches near the nose, darkened skin, fungal rashes, or skin tags serving as \"proof\" of diabetes. However, this approach is flawed as the face cannot provide a blood sugar reading. Dr. Rajiv Kovil, a Diabetes & Obesity Specialist, emphasizes that diagnosing diabetes based on facial features is not accurate. He clarifies that \"social media has created a dangerous new genre of medicine: look at a photograph, identify a patch of skin, and announce that somebody has diabetes. That is not diagnosis. That is conjecture dressed up as medicine.\"\n\nWhile skin changes can sometimes indicate insulin resistance or susceptibility to infections, they do not constitute a diabetes diagnosis. Acanthosis nigricans, characterized by dark, thickened, velvety skin around the neck and body folds, is one example. This condition can signify significant insulin resistance even before diabetes develops. Other metabolic clues around the eyes include xanthelasma, which appears as yellowish plaques near the inner eyelids and may point to dyslipidaemia and broader cardiometabolic risk. However, these findings still require laboratory testing and should not be used to diagnose diabetes.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Indian Express",
        "title": "Can you really tell if someone has high blood sugar by looking at their face?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/can-you-really-tell-if-someone-has-high-blood-sugar-by-looking-at",
        "published": "2026-10-11T00:30:22.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}