Abstract Metabolic imbalance in chronic diseases such as type-1 diabetes may lead to detectable perturbations in the molecular composition of residual skin surface components (RSSC). This study compared the accumulation rate and the composition of RSSC in type-1 diabetic patients with those in matched controls in order to identify potential biomarkers of the disease. Samples of RSSC were collected from the foreheads of type-1 diabetic (n = 55) and non-diabetic (n = 58) volunteers. Samples were subsequently analysed to identify individual components (sebomic analysis). There was no significant difference in the rate of accumulation of RSSC between type-1 diabetics and controls. In terms of molecular composition, 171 RSSC components were common to both groups, 27 were more common in non-diabetics and 18 were more common in type-1 diabetic patients. Statistically significant (P