Benign tumors can appear in unexpected places and how to recognize them

Lumps and bumps are often an unavoidable part of a body. Sometimes they can be cause for concern and other times they can be completely harmless.

Harmless tumors are also known as benign tumors and can appear almost anywhere on the body – even in random locations, as Fearne Cotton recently revealed.

The 43-year-old broadcaster revealed in an Instagram video that she is undergoing surgery to remove two benign tumors from her jaw. “I have a benign tumor right in my jaw, below my ear, and a small, tiny one above that,” said the Happy Place podcast host.

“I’m very grateful that they’re okay, but they have to go because they’re annoying. So I will undergo this operation and then I will rest to get well before Christmas.”

In her caption, Cotton explained that she “first felt a lump under my ear on my jaw a while ago, but this year noticed it was getting bigger.”

What is a benign tumor?

About nine out of ten tumors are benign. To help Brits identify a benign tumor, Dr. Alasdair Scott first what it is.

“A tumor is simply a growth. Tumors can be benign or malignant,” he says. “Benign tumors (e.g., colloid cysts) do not spread, while malignant tumors have the ability to spread to other parts of the body.”

The most common benign tumors affect the skin and include moles, sebaceous cysts, lipomas, and dermatofibromas.

A sebaceous cyst is a small lump in the skin that usually occurs on the back or scalp and affects about one in five people.

Dr. Scott, the scientific director at Selph, warns that they can become infected. “They are easy to identify because they are in the skin (i.e. the skin doesn’t move over them) and have a small ‘punctum’ at the tip,” he adds, referring to a small area or area small spike that can be seen at the tip of a sebaceous gland cyst.

Lipomas, on the other hand, are lumps of fat that sit under the skin, causing the skin to move over them. They are “painless, soft, sticky lumps,” says Dr. Scott, and they affect about one in 50 people.

Dermatofibromas are small brown lumps in the skin that can occur as a result of a minor injury to the skin, such as a shaving cut. They are raised, firm and painless and are very common.

Where on the body can benign tumors grow?

Dr. Scott says benign tumors that have nothing to do with the skin are also very common. “For example, at least one in five of us has an adenoma (polyp) in the intestine, about one in ten of us develops an adenoma in the pituitary gland, and about one in ten women has a benign breast tumor called a fibroadenoma,” he explains.

“Often these don’t cause any symptoms and are either picked up accidentally when you’re looking for something else. Doctors even have a name for these random tumors – incidentalomas.”

Even benign tumors can grow in the brain, as Davina McCall experienced. The TV host shared on November 15 that doctors discovered a benign colloid cyst in her brain and she underwent brain surgery to remove it.

Other unexpected places where benign tumors can grow include:

blood vessels

Benign tumors can grow from the blood vessels and are called hemangiomas. They usually look like red or purple bumps or raised areas on the skin and are most common in infants. They are colloquially known as “strawberry moles” and usually disappear by the age of 10.

cartilage

Chondromas form in your cartilage, the flexible connective tissue that protects your joints and bones. They occur primarily in the small bones of the hands and feet as well as in the sinuses and skull bones.

Annoy

Benign tumors that develop within nerves are called neuromas and can grow anywhere in the body. Common neuromas include schwannomas (in the nerve sheath, the tissue that covers the nerves), neurofibromas (on the nerves), and ganglioneuromas (in the autonomic nervous system).

Lymphatic system

Lymphangiomas develop in the lymphatic system and typically affect children. They can cause fluid-filled sacs to form on the skin and mucous membranes that line the mouth, nose, and inner eyelids.

When should you worry about a tumor?

Benign tumors usually do not cause any problems. However, when they become large, they can compress or block other nearby structures in the body, causing pain and other complications. In these cases you should see your GP as they may need to be surgically removed.

There are some types of benign tumors that can turn into malignant tumors and therefore require close monitoring or surgical removal.

Dr. Scott advises: “The most common malignant tumors again affect the skin. Basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma are all types of skin cancer. They can look quite different, but some may also share common characteristics: growth (i.e. they get bigger over time), bleeding and sometimes pain.

“The most common are breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, colon cancer and lung cancer.”

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