The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sebaceous \Se*ba"ceous\, a. [NL. sebaceus, from L. sebum tallow, grease.] (Physiol.) Pertaining to, or secreting, fat; composed of fat; having the appearance of fat; as, the sebaceous secretions of some plants, or the sebaceous humor of animals.
Sebaceous cyst (Med.), a cyst formed by distention of a sebaceous gland, due to obstruction of its excretory duct.
Sebaceous glands (Anat.), small subcutaneous glands, usually connected with hair follicles. They secrete an oily semifluid matter, composed in great part of fat, which softens and lubricates the hair and skin.
WordNet
n. a common cyst of the skin; filled with fatty matter (sebum) that is secreted by a sebaceous gland that has been blocked [syn: pilar cyst, wen, steatocystoma]
Wikipedia
A sebaceous cyst is a term commonly used to refer to either:
- Epidermoid cysts (also termed epidermal cysts, infundibular cyst), or
- Pilar cysts (also termed trichelemmal cysts, isthmus-catagen cysts).
Both of the above types of cyst contain keratin, not sebum, and neither originates from sebaceous glands. Epidermoid cysts originate in the epidermis and pilar cysts originate from hair follicles. Therefore, technically speaking they are not sebaceous cysts. "True" sebaceous cysts, cysts which originate from sebaceous glands and which contain sebum, are relatively rare and are known as steatocystoma simplex or, if multiple, as steatocystoma multiplex.
It has been suggested by medical professionals that the term sebaceous cyst be avoided since it can be misleading. In practice however, the term is still often used for epidermoid and pilar cysts.
Usage examples of "sebaceous cyst".
They had missed the antidote, which was in a tiny gel capsule in his left earlobe, masquerading as a sebaceous cyst - left, because it is automatic to neglect that side of a man, as though it were only a mirror image of the examiner's right - and that was some comfort.
The man who has been settling the hash of the mainland Chinese searches the back of his neck, where there is what appears to be a sebaceous cyst (I can clear that up for you.
His dislike of doctors probably had its origin in the fact that a doctor had originally diagnosed his mother's malignant cancer as a sebaceous cyst.
Like a sebaceous cyst, something corrupt lay beneath the emerald fronds and hungry black soil.