The list is long - sebaceous glands, ceruminous glands, sweat glands, lacrimal glands, mammary glands, meibomian glands, perineal glands, prepucial glands.
If you wish to take a look at these visit - http://www.finchcms.edu/anatomy/histolog...
Sebaceous glands are usually attached to hair follicles. The word sebaceous is pronounced as: sebashs. The sebaceous glands secrete an oily secretion called Sebum. While releasing their product the cells of sebaceous glands completely disintegrate. Such glands are called HOLOCRINE glands. New cells are continuously formed and take over the function of secretion. It takes about a week from formation of cells to discharge of sebum by their disintegration.
The sebum is believed to prevent cracking of skin in winter season. It reduces water loss from the skin surface some claim it has a function similar to pheromones in animals, like subtle chemical communication. This may help in identification of individuals by contributing to body odor and sexual arousal of members of opposite sex.
Androgen, the male sexual hormone, and some hormones of pituitary gland control activity level of sebaceous glands. Men produce more sebum than women due to their higher level of androgens. People who in adulthood start secreting abnormally high levels of growth hormone from their pituitaries develop enlarged facial bones. This gives them a gorilla like appearance and the condition is called Acromegaly. Patients of acromegaly are known to secrete large amounts of sebum.
Some of the sebaceous glands at the border of the eyelids are called-the meibomian glands. They are quite big and are easily seen with the naked eye when the eyelids are everted. The meibomian glands produce the mucus to lubricate eyeball and ensure free movement of eyeball in the socket of eye.
The glands on the genitalia produce large amounts of sebaceous whitish colored matter.This is called smegma.The word literally means soap. If not removed periodically, smegma accumulates, especially beneath foreskin which covers glans penis and is claimed to lead to penile cancers. If you want to know more about smegma a good site to refer to is - http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/wrigh...
Sebum secretion increases substantially at puberty. In males it increases up to fivefold. After puberty slowly the level of sebum secretion stabilizes. In adolescents a common complaint is of pimples i.e. small pointed elevations of the skin that may or may not contain pus.
The formation of pimples is frequently associated with infection, irritation, or overactivity of the sebaceous and sweat glands. Repeated eruptions of pimples are called acne.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Narayan Dattatray Wadadekar's Human Anatomy topic, please visit the Discussions page.