What is a sebaceous gland? It is a small gland in your skin that secretes sebum. Sebum is an oily substance that naturally moistens your skin and hair, as well as helps retain body heat and provides a waterproof coating.
Sebaceous glands are distributed throughout your body’s entire skin except the soles of your feet and the palms of your hands. Most have ducts that open into your hair follicles. The sebum secretion is then brought up to the skin surface along the hair shaft. In the areas without hair, sebaceous glands sebum secretion comes out directly through the duct.
Sebum can collect on your skin and hair because of poor hygiene and intake dietary fats. An overactive sebaceous gland can contribute to a variety of skin conditions. For instance, excessive secretion of sebum (seborrhea) may be associated with:
- acne
- dandruff
- keratosis pilaris
- sebaceous cyst
- Fordyce’s spots
- seborrheic keratosis
- seborrheic dermatitis
- sebaceous hyperplasia
Isotretinoin is a drug that dramatically slows the quantity of sebum secreted by your sebaceous glands. The use of this drug is usually reserved for severe cases of overproduction. For milder cases, regular exfoliation might be helpful.
Rarely, a sebaceous gland develops a benign tumor (sebaceous adenoma) or cancer.