A 46-year old man developed subcutaneous fat necrosis of the right upper thigh in association with pancreatitis. The panniculitis established by biopsy resolved 4 years later. Subcutaneous nodular fat necrosis is a rare dermatological manifestation of pancreatitis or pancreas carcinoma which may be clinically indistinguishable from erythema nodosum. Biopsy of the skin lesion reveals a characteristic histological picture with necrotic fat cells surrounded by lymphocytes, histiocytes and plasmacells.