Sebaceous Carcinoma

Sebaceous (pronounced “suh-BAY-shus”) carcinoma is a rare skin cancer that develops in your skin’s oil-producing glands. “Sebaceous” means oil-producing.

The cancer most commonly affects your eyelids, but can develop almost anywhere on your body. That’s because you have sebaceous glands underneath most of your skin, especially where there’s hair. These glands secrete an oily substance called sebum that protects your body from germs.

Is sebaceous carcinoma aggressive?

Sebaceous carcinoma is an aggressive skin cancer, which means it spreads quickly. Cancer that spreads outside of the original tumor is metastatic cancer.

What are other names for sebaceous carcinoma?

“Carcinoma” is the medical term for cancer. Healthcare providers may also refer to sebaceous carcinoma as sebaceous gland carcinoma or sebaceous gland adenocarcinoma or meibomian (pronounced “my-BOW-me-en”) gland carcinoma. The meibomian gland is a specific sebaceous gland that only exists in your eyelids.

How common is sebaceous carcinoma?

Sebaceous carcinoma is a rare cancer. About 5% to 10% of skin cancers are eyelid tumors. Only around 1% of these cancers are sebaceous carcinoma.

Sebaceous carcinoma mainly affects women and people assigned female at birth and people ages 60 to 80. However, younger and older adults and children can also get this skin cancer.