Glands

What are glands?

Glands are specialized cells or groups of cells (tissues) that release important chemicals. Some glands release chemicals for the surrounding area only. Other glands release chemicals that travel throughout your body.

What do glands do?

All glands consist of epithelial tissue, one of the four main tissues found in your body. Glands are special because of how they make and release various chemicals. There are two main types of glands:

• Exocrine
• Endocrine

Exocrine glands

These glands have tubelike ducts that transport whatever they make. Some examples of things that exocrine glands make include:

• Breast milk
• Enzymes that help with digestion
• Mucus
• Saliva
• Sweat
• Tears

Endocrine glands

These glands secrete what they make into your bloodstream without the use of ducts. The chemicals and substances they make can be useful throughout your body. Examples include:

• Complex blood proteins like clotting factors
• Metabolic hormones like ghrelin, glucagon and insulin
• Neurotransmitters like adrenaline and norepinephrine
• Sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone

Where are glands located?

You have different types of glands throughout your body. Your skin surface contains millions of sweat glands, for example. Some of the specific glands and their locations include:

• Adenoid glands behind your nasal passage
• Anal glands in your butthole (anus)
• Ceruminous glands that make earwax in your ears
• Digestive enzyme glands in your stomach
• Kidneys and the adrenal glands at their top
• Liver and pancreas (both of which are simultaneously endocrine and exocrine glands)
• Mammary glands in breasts
• Meibomian glands and lacrimal glands around your eyes
• Mucus-releasing Brunner glands in your duodenum
• Ovaries in females
• Pituitary and pineal glands in your brain
• Prostate, seminal glands (also known as seminal vesicles) and accessory glands in males
• Salivary glands like the parotid gland in your mouth
• Sebaceous glands in your hair follicles
• Skene’s gland near the vagina
• Sweat glands (apocrine and eccrine) in your skin
• Thymus gland inside your chest
• Thyroid and parathyroid glands in your neck

What are the common conditions and disorders that affect glands?

One issue that’s universal to virtually all glands is making too much or not enough of the chemical they’re supposed to produce. Some key examples include:

• Drooling from making too much saliva or dry mouth (xerostomia) from not making enough
• Meibomian gland dysfunction
• Parathyroid conditions like overactive parathyroid (hyperparathyroidism) and underactive parathyroid (hypoparathyroidism)
• Pituitary diseases like overactive pituitary (hyperpituitarism) and underactive pituitary (hypopituitarism)
• Thyroid diseases like overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) or underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)

Many of your glands are prone to inflammation. Examples include:

• Parotitis
• Prostatitis
• Sialadenitis
• Thyroiditis

Autoimmune conditions can also damage glands. Examples include:

• Autoimmune thyroid disorders like Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s disease
• Myasthenia gravis (because it affects your thymus)
• Organ-damaging conditions like autoimmune pancreatitis and autoimmune hepatitis
• Sjögren’s syndrome, which can cause dry eye and dry mouth
• Type 1 diabetes

Exocrine glands are prone to infections, either directly or from systemic infections. Examples include:

• Dacryoadenitis
• Mumps
• Styes

Several congenital (meaning you have them at birth) conditions can affect glands throughout your body. Many of those conditions are genetic. Some examples include:

• Carney complex
• Cystic fibrosis
• Multiple forms of dwarfism (skeletal dysplasia)

Glands throughout your body are also prone to developing tumors. That includes benign (noncancerous) growths and malignant (cancerous) tumors. And when these growths press on glands, the glands might produce too much or too little of the specific chemical they’re responsible for.

What are some tests that check for gland-related conditions?

Healthcare providers will often look for body changes or symptoms they can see and feel during a physical exam. They can also use different types of tests. Most of the time, that involves one or more of the following:

• Blood tests. Analyzing your blood can help providers find issues related to glands throughout your body.
• Imaging tests. Providers can use tests like ultrasound, CT scans or MRIs to look at glands inside your body and look for size or shape changes.

Other tests are possible, depending on your symptoms, health history and more. Your healthcare provider can tell you more about the tests they recommend.

What can I do to take care of glands in my body?

The glands throughout your body can benefit from things that are good for your health overall. Some examples include:

• Seeing a healthcare provider at least once a year for a checkup (which can catch many gland-related conditions before you have symptoms)
• Reaching and maintaining a weight that’s healthy for you
• Staying physically active
• Eating a healthy diet that includes a variety of foods

If you think you have a condition that might affect certain glands, you may want to talk to a healthcare provider. And it’s a good idea to see a provider soon if you have symptoms of an infection or inflammation in certain glands. That’s especially true for glands around your eyes or in your mouth.

Are lymph nodes glands?

No, lymph nodes aren’t glands.

It’s easy to mistake them for glands, partly because they’re next to actual glands in many places, like under your jaw and armpits. Adding to the confusion is the fact that people sometimes refer to them as lymph glands. But that’s not an accurate name, and they don’t meet the definition.

What glands are under my jaw?

You have glands under your jaw and in the surrounding area. The submandibular glands (meaning “under the jaw”) are there. The sublingual glands (under your tongue) are also nearby.

What glands are in my neck?

Your thyroid gland is the main gland in your neck. Attached to it on both sides are also the parathyroid glands.