Objective To identify the best therapy regimen for a patient with rare chronic leg ulcer in necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum (NLD). Methods We searched the Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2006), PubMed (1966-July 2006), EMbase (1974-July 2006) and CBM (1978-July 2006) to identify relevant evidence. The quality of the retrieved studies was critically assessed. Results A total of 153 records were retrieved. No clinical guidelines, systematic reviews or clinical randomized studies were identified. Thirty treatment-related studies involving 17 interventions showed that, fumaric acid esters, oral pentoxifylline, topical use of growth factors and surgical skin flap transplant were relatively more effective and safer than conventional therapies. Conclusion After treatment with tropical granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, the patient with chronic leg ulcers was healed.