: 676

Type III – obesity and pseudoacanthosis nigricans
In young persons, acanthosis nigricans is a visible marker which strongly suggests insulin resistance. Higher than normal insulin levels in the blood stream cause the growth of darkened skin over certain areas of the body. No skin treatment will get rid of AN. Acanthosis nigricans may lighten up and possibly go away by treating the root cause, insulin resistance, but it can take months or years to do so. Insulin resistance syndromes may be divided into type A (HAIR-AN) and type B syndromes. : 978 The majority of cases of acanthosis nigricans are associated with obesity and otherwise idiopathic. This is likely because of insulin resistance and more likely to occur in darker-skinned persons. : 968  This can also be referred to as pseudoacanthosis nigricans. : 86  In some cases, AN attributable to obesity and insulin resistance will occur on ones face. Most typically it will be present as a horizontal band on the forehead, but may also appear as perioral hyperpigmentation, periorbital hyperpigmentation, or generalized facial skin darkening. Type IV – drug-related
Acanthosis nigricans has been linked to the use of nicotinic acid, glucocorticoid use, combined oral contraceptive pills, and growth hormone therapy. : 86

Type V – malignancy
Malignant acanthosis nigricans: 86  refers to acanthosis nigricans occurring as a paraneoplastic syndrome associated with a cancer. Malignant acanthosis nigricans is most commonly associated with gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas, as well as genitourinary cancers such as those of the prostate, breast, and ovary. Other cancers, such as those of the lung, stomach, and lymphoma, are occasionally associated with acanthosis nigricans.
Selenium sulfide topical 2 percent applied in thin layer to dry skin ten minutes prior to bathing may clear symptoms. Selenium sulfide applied to dry scalp or skin is an inexpensive well tolerated treatment to balance skins biome and works by drying fungus like tinea versicolor that can coexist with acanthosis and exacerbate discoloration. Acanthosis nigricans maligna may resolve if the causative tumor is successfully removed. Prognosis
Acanthosis nigricans is likely to improve in circumstances where a known cause is removed. For example, obesity-related acanthosis nigricans will improve with weight loss, and drug-induced acanthosis nigricans is likely to resolve when the drug is ceased. Hereditary variants may or may not fade with age, and malignancy-associated variants may, after a malignancy is removed, fade. : 87

References
External links
00001 at CHORUS