diff --git a/openapi3gen/openapi3gen.go b/openapi3gen/openapi3gen.go
index f2a45c4e0..4387727f7 100644
--- a/openapi3gen/openapi3gen.go
+++ b/openapi3gen/openapi3gen.go
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ type CycleError struct{}
 
 func (err *CycleError) Error() string { return "detected cycle" }
 
+// ExcludeSchemaSentinel indicates that the schema for a specific field should not be included in the final output.
+type ExcludeSchemaSentinel struct{}
+
+func (err *ExcludeSchemaSentinel) Error() string { return "schema excluded" }
+
 // Option allows tweaking SchemaRef generation
 type Option func(*generatorOpt)
 
@@ -25,7 +30,10 @@ type Option func(*generatorOpt)
 // the OpenAPI schema definition to be updated with additional
 // properties during the generation process, based on the
 // name of the field, the Go type, and the struct tags.
-// name will be "_root" for the top level object, and tag will be ""
+// name will be "_root" for the top level object, and tag will be "".
+// A SchemaCustomizerFn can return an ExcludeSchemaSentinel error to
+// indicate that the schema for this field should not be included in
+// the final output
 type SchemaCustomizerFn func(name string, t reflect.Type, tag reflect.StructTag, schema *openapi3.Schema) error
 
 type generatorOpt struct {
@@ -117,6 +125,10 @@ func (g *Generator) generateSchemaRefFor(parents []*jsoninfo.TypeInfo, t reflect
 		return ref, nil
 	}
 	ref, err := g.generateWithoutSaving(parents, t, name, tag)
+	if _, ok := err.(*ExcludeSchemaSentinel); ok {
+		// This schema should not be included in the final output
+		return nil, nil
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/openapi3gen/openapi3gen_test.go b/openapi3gen/openapi3gen_test.go
index 3640d4c0f..a85f5da4a 100644
--- a/openapi3gen/openapi3gen_test.go
+++ b/openapi3gen/openapi3gen_test.go
@@ -468,6 +468,30 @@ func TestSchemaCustomizerError(t *testing.T) {
 	require.EqualError(t, err, "test error")
 }
 
+func TestSchemaCustomizerExcludeSchema(t *testing.T) {
+	type Bla struct {
+		Str string
+	}
+
+	customizer := openapi3gen.SchemaCustomizer(func(name string, ft reflect.Type, tag reflect.StructTag, schema *openapi3.Schema) error {
+		return nil
+	})
+	schema, err := openapi3gen.NewSchemaRefForValue(&Bla{}, nil, openapi3gen.UseAllExportedFields(), customizer)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, &openapi3.SchemaRef{Value: &openapi3.Schema{
+		Type: "object",
+		Properties: map[string]*openapi3.SchemaRef{
+			"Str": {Value: &openapi3.Schema{Type: "string"}},
+		}}}, schema)
+
+	customizer = openapi3gen.SchemaCustomizer(func(name string, ft reflect.Type, tag reflect.StructTag, schema *openapi3.Schema) error {
+		return &openapi3gen.ExcludeSchemaSentinel{}
+	})
+	schema, err = openapi3gen.NewSchemaRefForValue(&Bla{}, nil, openapi3gen.UseAllExportedFields(), customizer)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Nil(t, schema)
+}
+
 func ExampleNewSchemaRefForValue_recursive() {
 	type RecursiveType struct {
 		Field1     string           `json:"field1"`