diff --git a/src/include/lwip/inet.h b/src/include/lwip/inet.h
index 2982a0f4..50e8e303 100644
--- a/src/include/lwip/inet.h
+++ b/src/include/lwip/inet.h
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@
 #define LWIP_HDR_INET_H
 
 #include "lwip/opt.h"
+
+#if LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS
+#include LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADER_INET_H
+#else /* LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS */
+
 #include "lwip/def.h"
 #include "lwip/ip_addr.h"
 #include "lwip/ip6_addr.h"
@@ -166,4 +171,6 @@ extern const struct in6_addr in6addr_any;
 }
 #endif
 
+#endif /* LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS */
+
 #endif /* LWIP_HDR_INET_H */
diff --git a/src/include/lwip/opt.h b/src/include/lwip/opt.h
index d760a100..d39ed50f 100644
--- a/src/include/lwip/opt.h
+++ b/src/include/lwip/opt.h
@@ -2009,6 +2009,17 @@
 #define LWIP_SOCKET_OFFSET              0
 #endif
 
+/**
+ * LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS==1: Use external headers instead of sockets.h
+ * and inet.h. In this case, user must provide its own headers by setting the
+ * values for LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADER_SOCKETS_H and
+ * LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADER_INET_H to appropriate include file names and the
+ * whole content of the default sockets.h and inet.h is skipped.
+ */
+#if !defined LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS || defined __DOXYGEN__
+#define LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS    0
+#endif
+
 /**
  * LWIP_TCP_KEEPALIVE==1: Enable TCP_KEEPIDLE, TCP_KEEPINTVL and TCP_KEEPCNT
  * options processing. Note that TCP_KEEPIDLE and TCP_KEEPINTVL have to be set
diff --git a/src/include/lwip/sockets.h b/src/include/lwip/sockets.h
index d70d36c4..819357e7 100644
--- a/src/include/lwip/sockets.h
+++ b/src/include/lwip/sockets.h
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
 
 #include "lwip/opt.h"
 
+#if LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS
+#include LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADER_SOCKETS_H
+#else /* LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS */
+
 #if LWIP_SOCKET /* don't build if not configured for use in lwipopts.h */
 
 #include "lwip/ip_addr.h"
@@ -685,4 +689,6 @@ int lwip_inet_pton(int af, const char *src, void *dst);
 
 #endif /* LWIP_SOCKET */
 
+#endif /* LWIP_SOCKET_EXTERNAL_HEADERS */
+
 #endif /* LWIP_HDR_SOCKETS_H */