This word is an entry in my book:

A Dictionary of Medical Derivations:

The Real Meaning of Medical Terms.

COMMON BODY MYTH

When you’ve had your hands in water for a long time and the skin of your fingertips buckles and wrinkles, you may think your skin has shriveled and dried out like a raisin.

But the opposite is true.

Your fingertips are actually waterlogged.

Immersion in water has washed away the protective skin oil. This skin oil is a complex mix of fats that includes sebum, lipids from the surface skin cells and sweat.

SEBUM

Sebum is the oily secretion of the sebaceous glands in the dermis layer of the skin. It is emptied through sebaceous ducts into your hair follicles to coat and protect individual hairs, and to make your skin supple and slightly waterproof.

Sebum reduces water loss from the skin surface. It protects the skin from infection by bacteria and fungi. It contributes to body odour. And it is colonized by the bacteria Proprionibacterium acnes, which may have a role in immune regulation.

ETYMOLOGY OF SEBUM

sebum Latin, originally, hog fat, lard, fat < ultimately from Indo-European root *sus pig, with related words like swine, sow, French suif ‘tallow, candle fat,’ suet, and the farmer’s common pig-call in many languages, suee-suee.

LOCATION OF SEBACEOUS GLANDS

Here’s an internet description: “Sebaceous glands are found over most of the body, although there are few on the hands or feet and none on the palms and soles. Sebaceous glands on the mid-back, forehead and chin are larger and more numerous than elsewhere (up to 400-900 glands per square cm.) They are also numerous in the ear canal and around the genitals. The sebaceous gland consists of lobes connected by ducts, which are lined with cells similar to those on the skin surface.

Most sebaceous glands open out into the hair follicle. Some free sebaceous glands open directly onto the skin surface. These include Meibomian glands on the eyelids, Tysons glands on the foreskin and Fordyces spots on the upper lip. Sebum is produced when the sebaceous gland disintegrates. The cells take about a week from formation to discharge. Sebum is a complex and variable mixture of lipids including:

Cholesterol Triglycerides produced by sebaceous glands are broken down by bacterial enzymes (lipases) in the sebaceous duct to form free fatty acids.”

RELATED WORD: SEBACEOUS CYST

sebaceus Late Latin, oily, greasy + kystos Greek, sac

A sebaceous cyst is a tiny sac of often rancid sebum, sometimes involving a hair follicle.

RELATED WORD: SEBORRHEA

sebo - sebum + rrhoia Greek, a discharge of

Seborrhea is an inflamed skin condition due to excess of sebum production, also called seborrheic dermatitis.

ACNE

Sebum plays a role in acne formation. Check out the role at this web page:

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/articles/20010-2.asp

More stories of medical words appear in my book.

Sample it by clicking on the cover.

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Index of Sample Words from

A Dictionary of Medical Derivations

 

 

 

 

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