Question: Hello -- I was recently diagnosed with sebaceous hyperplasia located primarily on the "T-zone" area of my face. I also have what I believe are Fordyce spots inside both of my cheeks; they have been there for a long time and my dentist has never raised any concern over them during my six-month checkups. While looking in my magnifying mirror last evening, I also noticed that I have numerous whitish-yellow (what I believe to be fordyce spots) on my upper and lower lips; they become more prominent when the skin is stretched. While I understand that these spots are harmless and benign, I became concerned when I ran across information online indicating that numerous fordyce spots can be a marker of Lynch Syndrome. I actually just had a routing screening colonoscopy done, as I am turning 50 in a few weeks, and the scope came back clean (with the exception of one small diverticulum). Should I be concerned about the possibility of Lynch Syndrome or Muir-Torre disease, given my sebaceous hyperplasia and numerous Fordyce spots? Thank you for your input.

Thank you so much for your reassurances Dr. Kakkar! Unfortunately, I've been suffering from health anxiety lately and although I promised myself that I wouldn't consult "Dr. Google", I always do so, and of course, pick up on the rare and unusual diseases!

There is no history of malignancies in my family, and as I indicated, I was very relieved that my first colonoscopy came back normal; I also had complete blood work done a few weeks ago, which came back all within normal parameters.

So as you indicated, having numerous fordyce spots inside both of my cheeks and on my upper and lower lips is completely benign and nothing to worry about? I'll certainly ask my dentist at my next visit, but is it a relatively common occurrence for a person to have patches of those spots inside the cheeks (and on the lips -- I honestly can't say whether the ones I noticed on my lips have been there for some time or whether I just noticed them now; by the way, I also currently have angular chelitis in the corner of my mouth -- not sure whether that's related in any fashion)

Thank you for your continued assistance!

Thanks you again for your assistance and expertise in answering my questions-- I truly appreciate it!

One last question -- again, I've been experiencing a lot of health anxiety lately, made worse by googling health information. Since sebaceous hyperplasia and fordyce spots are common, and the cancer syndromes (Lynch and Muir Torre) which I read about are relatively rare, is it safe to say that I shouldn't live in fear of having the predisposition or markers (whatever the medical terminology is) for those syndromes just because I have sebaceous hyperplasia and fordyce spots? Again, I have no personal or family history of the associated cancers, but ever since I read that fordyce spots can be associated with Lynch syndrome, I can't seem to get that out of my mind.

Thank you again!