Ectopic folliculosebaceous units at the coronal sulcus

Abstract

Tyson glands were described in the 17th century as modified sebaceous glands of the coronal sulcus of the penis. However, this description and other early texts supporting the existence of Tyson glands were not accompanied by illustrations. The existence of such glands has been passing through the literature without adequate graphical demonstration, which has contributed to controversial debates. Herein we present a case of a partial penectomy performed on a 65-year-old man with a squamous cell carcinoma of the penis. In this case we identified sebaceous glands as well as folliculosebaceous units in the coronal sulcus. We also comparatively examined 12 cases of partial penectomy to search for sebaceous glands or folliculosebaceous units in the coronal sulcus or the preputium. We found neither sebaceous glands nor folliculosebaceous units at the coronal sulcus or the mucosal aspect of the prepuce. We conclude that: (1) folliculosebaceous units are possible in the coronal sulcus, as the current case illustrates for the first time in literature and (2) the current case is an oddity, probably induced by the accompanying squamous cell carcinoma, and therefore it may represent an ectopic folliculosebaceous unit rather than an anatomic variation.