Sebaceous Gland Hyperplasia

Sebaceous Gland Hyperplasia are common yellowish flesh colored papules or bumps usually seen on the face.  They generally have a central indentation in them.  To the naked eye, these look a lot like a basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer.  However, on further examination you can see a difference.   To complicate matters, there is a malignant growth of the oil glands called sebaceous carcinoma.

Most patients over 40 have at least a few of these.  Many patients have hundreds.  They are often a cosmetic concern.

I like to describe them by using a head of broccoli.  Normally, if you look at the oil or sebaceous glands under the microscope they look like an upside down head of broccoli, where the florets are the oil glands and the stalk is the pore.  The oil glands are held in the skin by collagen and elastin that give the skin structure.  As we age, with sun damage and with rosacea, the oil glands will often flower up above the level of the skin.  So, in sebaceous gland the broccoli head is correct side up and the florets overgrow.

How are they treated?  For patients that these are a cosmetic concern, we usually treat with electrodessication ( burning with a hot needle).  In this procedure, the objective is to melt the oil glands down and make a microscopic scar to prevent the oil glands from growing.  Insurance usually doesn’t cover this treatment, so it is an out of pocket cost.

Can they be prevented? Not really completely, but use of tretinoin or RetinA can help reduce the number that are developing by building up collagen and elastin in the skin.

If you have one of these that is growing out of proportion to the others, please have it checked by a dermatologist to be safe.