Focal peripheral nerve lesions are more common in diabetic patients than in the general population. They include cranial neuropathies, particularly affecting the third and seventh nerves, thoracoabdominal neuropathies, focal limb neuropathies, and the proximal lower limb motor neuropathy (diabetic amyotrophy). The focal limb neuropathies are often at common sites of entrapment or external compression.The abrupt onset of diabetic third cranial nerve palsies is consistent with an ischaemic basis and there are good pathological studies to support this.