The French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 term peau d'orange means "orange peel skin", or more literally, "skin of an orange". It is used in medicine to describe anatomy with the appearance and dimpled texture of an orange

Orange (fruit)

An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....

 peel. Examples include the skin of the breast in inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer is an especially aggressive type of breast cancer that can occur in women of any age .It is called inflammatory because it frequently presents with symptoms resembling an inflammation...

, or breaks in Bruch's Membrane

Bruch's membrane

Bruch's membrane is the innermost layer of the choroid. It is also called the vitreous lamina, because of its glassy microscopic appearance.It is 2–4 μm thick.-Layers:Bruch's membrane consists of five layers :...

 called angioid streaks

Angioid streaks

Angioid streaks, also called Knapp streaks or Knapp striae are small breaks in Bruch's membrane, an elastic tissue containing membrane of the retina that can become calcified and crack....

, which are common in pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum , also known as Grönblad–Strandberg syndrome, is a genetic disease that causes fragmentation and mineralization of elastic fibers in some tissues. The most common problems arise in the skin and eyes, and later in blood vessels in the form of premature atherosclerosis...

, or in elephantiasis

Elephantiasis

Elephantiasis is a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the legs and male genitals. In some cases the disease can cause certain body parts, such as the scrotum, to swell to the size of a softball or basketball. It is caused by...

 caused by thread-like, microscopic parasitic worms (filariasis

Filariasis

Filariasis is a parasitic disease and is considered an infectious tropical disease, that is caused by thread-like nematodes belonging to the superfamily Filarioidea, also known as "filariae"....

). Peau d'orange can be also seen with myxedema

Myxedema

Myxedema describes a specific form of cutaneous and dermal edema secondary to increased deposition of connective tissue components in subcutaneous tissue as seen in various forms of hypothyroidism and Graves' disease. It is more common in women than in men...

 of Grave's disease, where the term refers more to the texture than the color.