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Topics: Health
Anish Vij
Dr Mark Perera has warned what not to do if you start to notice little white bumps on your private parts.
If you're standing about in the shower one day and suddenly come across these small, pale or yellowish bumps on the skin of your penis, you probably don't need to worry.
This is most likely a case of fordyce spots, which are basically tiny sebaceous oil glands that appear in areas where hair follicles are not usually found.
While fordyce spots can also be seen on the lips or inside the mouth, they are often noticed on the shaft of the penis, the scrotum, or the labia in women.
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The good news is that it's a very normal thing, which affects 70 to 80 percent of adults, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Small lumps or spots on the penis or vulva are usually harmless, and fordyce spots are one of the typical causes.
"So often people confuse them with an infectious disease or warts or ulcers. Sometimes they can look like that, but they’re completely normal. They’re like a normal anatomical variant," Dr Perera, a London-based GP, tells LADbible.
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"Fordyce spots is like a little collection of oil under the skin, which can look unusual, but it’s totally normal."
Dr Perera warns that people who think they have fordyce spots might be guilty of making a common mistake.
The mental health advocate warns that people shouldn't self-diagnose by checking up the symptoms on Google, and instead, head to a doctor who can properly examine you.
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"If you don’t know, go to your doctor. I know that’s annoying, and access to doctors is hard, but I think that’s the way for it.
"Because if you go down the Google rabbit hole, you find stuff which is like, ‘Oh, is that it? Is that not it?’… and as a doctor, we’ve seen this.”
He said it's 'so much better to examine it than to just look at pictures, if you don’t know, ask someone who’s clinical'.
"Googling to some extent, try, but beware that it can lead down the rabbit hole of you thinking you’ve got cancer," Dr Perera suggests.
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So if you go and get it checked, and everything's fine, there are medical procedures out there that can remove fordyce spots.
"There are some things like with laser/chemical… just like with acne, they can sort of resurface, but it doesn’t guarantee that it would go away forever," Dr Perera says.
"There’s always things you can do, but whether they’re risk versus benefit is the question you should ask yourself."
Dr Perera's comments come as part of his ongoing work promoting men’s health awareness through his annual testicular art exhibition, TesticulART, supported by Movember.
The free-to-enter gallery, held in the Espacio Gallery on Bethnal Green Road, displays fine art from men’s testicles. It returns for a third year from 12-18 November 2025, and tickets are available here.