# Musk glands in humans **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2017, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059 "2017-03-13T03:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/1 "2017-03-13T03:48:27Z")
For as long as I can remember I have had a small pocket on my right shoulder that would form a small lump under the skin. I can easily drain it with a small amount of pressure. I have always thought it was similar to a blackhead or pimple but now I am starting to think it may be a musk gland. The smell in not offensive and distinctly musky. I rubbed a small amount on my neck before a love making session without telling my partner and she noticed it and commented quickly, she really liked it. I told her it must have came from me being stimulated. It takes about 1 week for it to recharge and about a month for a full charge. It gets stronger in smell the longer I leave it alone. Could this be a musk gland? I first noticed it over 40 years ago and it hasn’t changed. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/2 "2017-03-13T03:53:02Z")
Humans don’t have musk glands as such. So unless you are actually a honey badger, then no. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/3 "2017-03-13T03:58:52Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Humans don’t have musk glands as such. So unless you are actually a honey badger, then no. ``` Is there anyway I could have it looked at to find out what it is? I am convinced it is something other than pus or water. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/4 "2017-03-13T04:16:10Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Is there anyway I could have it looked at to find out what it is? I am convinced it is something other than pus or water. See a doctor, in particular a dermatologist. Or maybe a veterinarian. 😉 And since this is medical advice, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/5 "2017-03-13T04:22:48Z")
Sebum, perhaps? Kinda waxy? I have a “pocket” on my shoulder too. Its odor is faint and not unpleasant, although I’ve never tried using it for perfume. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/6 "2017-03-13T06:13:28Z")
I as thinking a wen ([sebaceous cyst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebaceous_cyst)) but the one I had on my neck sometimes leaked a substance that I wouldn’t describe as “musky”. More like an unpleasant cheesy or rancid-butter odor. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/7 "2017-03-13T06:49:55Z")
I sometimes notice a distinctly ‘musky’ aroma when I sneeze, especially if it was one of those big sneezes that happens unepxectedly. I think there must be some species of commensal bacteria that feeds on human secretions and happens to produce a musky smell. I probably have it in my sinuses - the OP has it living in a sebaceous cyst. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/8 "2017-03-13T11:48:33Z")
A sebaceous cyst is enclosed, giving smelly bacteria a playground to breed in. I think what the OP is taking about is a little expansion of skin that gathers sebum, much like a stretched pore. It doesn’t form a capsule sealing everything in, it’s just held in by topography, until you gently squeeze. I have no idea if it has a name. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/9 "2017-03-13T12:10:36Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I have no idea if it has a name. Nelson, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/10 "2017-03-13T12:19:43Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Nelson, perhaps? Well, mine is Miss Barrett. We’re not on a first name basis yet. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/11 "2017-03-13T12:39:13Z")
Rear Admiral Nelson, then? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/12 "2017-03-13T13:16:33Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > A sebaceous cyst is enclosed, giving smelly bacteria a playground to breed in. > > I think what the OP is taking about is a little expansion of skin that gathers sebum, much like a stretched pore. It doesn’t form a capsule sealing everything in, it’s just held in by topography, until you gently squeeze. > > I have no idea if it has a name. It sounds like the same thing - proper treatment of sebaceous cysts usually involves opening and draining them, then pulling out the ‘pocket’ of lining and cutting it away before closing the wound - if the removal of the cyst lining isn’t done (e.g. if the thing is ‘popped’ when still fairly small), it may remain open in a state similar to what the OP is describing. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/13 "2017-03-13T13:56:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Nelson, perhaps? Full Nelson if he hasn’t squeezed it in a month. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/14 "2017-03-13T15:09:52Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Nelson, perhaps? “Genie…! Genie…!” :eek: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/15 "2017-03-13T15:22:06Z")
Sounds like an epidermal inclusion cyst (the so-called “sebaceous cyst”, which typically is not fed by sebaceous glands at all). Hard to imagine any woman being turned on by the odor such things harbor, but there were women who thought the stink of an unwashed Rasputin was sexy, so what do I know? \*male guinea pigs produce a really rank musk when they’re wooing a mate and it apparently makes them devastatingly attractive. Maybe we could bottle it and sell it to human males to attract women, along with making “weeick, weeick” noises. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/16 "2017-03-13T15:33:21Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > Full Nelson if he hasn’t squeezed it in a month. I wonder if smells like your wort? 😛 As to a musky smell, or, god forbid, an aphrodisiac, anything that’s come out of my skin is not what I’d call pleasant. In fact, this thread is making me kind of queasy. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/17 "2017-03-13T15:59:29Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It sounds like the same thing - proper treatment of sebaceous cysts usually involves opening and draining them, then pulling out the ‘pocket’ of lining and cutting it away before closing the wound - if the removal of the cyst lining isn’t done (e.g. if the thing is ‘popped’ when still fairly small), it may remain open in a state similar to what the OP is describing. I have one of these mega-pores that periodically gets squeezed out, and I have also had sebaceous cysts that came to the surface and remained open for months. The stuff you squeeze out of an open cyst is liquid, while the stuff you squeeze out of a large pore is nearly solid. It might be different states of the same material, but the subjective experience is waaaaaay different. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/18 "2017-03-13T16:02:50Z")
“We don’t need no stinkin’ badgers!” ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/19 "2017-03-13T16:09:05Z")
When you say “musky”, are we talking new Tesla smell? 'Cause that would be cool. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musk-glands-in-humans/782059/20 "2017-03-13T16:51:52Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > I have one of these mega-pores that periodically gets squeezed out, and I have also had sebaceous cysts that came to the surface and remained open for months. The stuff you squeeze out of an open cyst is liquid, while the stuff you squeeze out of a large pore is nearly solid. It might be different states of the same material, but the subjective experience is waaaaaay different. I’ve had a bunch of skin cysts. Just awful experiences every one. I’m sure most if not all of them are due to hairs unable to penetrate my leathery skin. I’ve found that cleaning them out followed by drying them our with peroxide will keep them from getting infected again. Unfortunately I’ve had a couple that a surgeon called ‘dumbell’ shaped. A cyst would grow on the surface that could be cleaned up and dried up but another one attached underneath would continue to grow down into my skin. Having them excised was the only way to get rid of them. These things are major annoyances.