Sebaceous hyperplasia – facial oil glands: describes benign nodular elevated enlargement of normal oil glands of the face.
Clinical appearance: These very common nodular yellow sebaceous hyperplasia start out as a tiny dot and over the years they become more obvious growing both in diameter and protruding from the skin. The tendency is a dominant trait with variable penetrance and expression of the gene so some families are very prone to these. The lesions usually start in the mid 30’s to 40’s and because the skin is like a garden, these lesions are like benign “weeds” that become quite a nuisance for most patients. The focus of these annoying oil glands is primarily the forehead, nose, and cheeks.
Treatment options:
1. Cautery (electric needle)
Has the ability to shrink the smaller ones
Disadvantage – high recurrence rate and potential for scarring
2. Liquid nitrogen and various acids
Not a good option
Poor response and secondary irritation
3. Excision with suturing
Scar is often worse than the original lesion so this is not a good treatment choice
4. O2 lasers – particularly the UltraPulse Encore gentle system
Quite effective to shrink, flatten and seal particularly the larger lesions but a scabby response initially and eventually these lesions can come back
If we remove the whole base of the lesion there is potential for a chicken pox like scar so with this technique it is better to just flatten, shrink, and seal them.
No long term studies that these will permanently stay away but the results by clinical studies and biopsies are very promising
**For the best success three treatments are required at four weeks apart.**
Treatment Costs: Canadian Health Care Plans consider laser treatment of oil glands a higher standard of care not covered by their current schedule. The cost of this procedure is not expensive in Canada but there is a cost involved. This will depend on the number and size of the oil glands being treated. We will discuss this prior to your therapy session.
