John Taylor on the importance of the ridged band

Taylor criticises studies of "penis sensitivity" that concentrate on the glans or shaft and forget the foreskin and its ridged band – the very structure that both carries the nerves and provides the mobility that stimulates the other regions of the organ.

The following letter was published in BJU International.

Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis

Van Howe et al. [1] found that the prepuce, particularly its ridged band [2,3] is the part of the penis (including the glans) most sensitive to fine touch. This finding is important because it has always been assumed, for good reason, that the glans is by far the most sensitive and important part of the penis. Early and inadequate laboratory studies [1] propelled the idea that 'sex is sex is sex', regardless of circumcision status. Suddenly, the prepuce could be sacrificed with a clear conscience and with no sexual consequences. The anatomy and physiology of the prepuce show otherwise.

The range of functions of the ridged band remains uncertain but it is deeply corrugated, rich in distortion-sensitive Meissner corpuscles and subject to the movement of muscularised shaft skin during sexual intercourse. It now seems that the concertina-like ridged band might be reflexogenic as much as fine-touch sensitive. Initial study (J.R.T. unpublished) indicates that the real importance of the ridged band to sexual intercourse lies in an ability to trigger a reflex contraction of muscles responsible for ejaculation. Routine infant circumcision is under attack in Canada and the USA, but we need to know much more about the function of the prepuce in sexual intercourse. Van Howe and his team have contributed to this ideal, and at the same time opened the hide-bound debate on circumcision to fresh thinking.

John R. Taylor
Department of Pathology, University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

References

1.  Sorrells ML, Snyder JL. Reiss MD et al. Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis. BJU Int 2007; 99 : 864–9

2.  Taylor JR, Lockwood AP, Taylor AJ. The prepuce: specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision. Br J Urol 1996; 77 : 291–5

3.  Cold CJ, Taylor JR. The prepuce. Temp. BJU Int 1999; 83 (Suppl. 1):34–44

Source:  BJU Int 2007;100(1):218.

The forgotten foreskin and its ridged band

And similarly in this letter to the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Circumcision does not diminish the sensitivity of the glans and penile shaft skin [1]. However, the prepuce is always front and center in the great circumcision debate and direct comparison of the glans with prepuce, not shaft skin, is essential. The glans is naturally insensitive to fine touch whether the penis is circumcised or not [2], and study of the effect of circumcision on sexual function should therefore focus on the missing prepuce. Biologically, however, both glans and prepuce contribute to the single mucocutaneous junctional zone of the penis, and it is possible that these apparently dissimilar structures in fact share similar functions related more to sexual reflexes than to touch perception.

The ridged band of prepuce [3,4] is tucked just inside the tip of the unretracted prepuce; it is a richly vascular mucosal tissue heavily innervated by movement-sensitive Meissner corpuscles. In addition to touch sensitivity [2], the ridged band is uniquely ridged or corrugated, and not surprisingly, work in progress indicates that retraction and stretching of this accordion-like structure triggers reflex contraction of bulbocavernosus and bulbospongiosus. These "bulb muscles" compress the root or bulb of the penis and among other things, including deep erogenous sensation, are responsible for ejaculation and clearing of residual urine from the posterior urethra following micturition. Almost certainly, removal of the prepuce and its ridged band distorts penile reflexogenic functions but exactly how and to what extent still remains to be seen.

John R. Taylor
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

References

1.  Payne K, Thaler L, Kukkonen T, Carrier S, Binik Y. Sensation and sexual arousal in circumcised and uncircumcised men. J Sex Med 2007;4:667–74.

2.  Sorrells ML, Snyder JL, Reiss CE, Milos MF, Wilcox N, Van Howe RS. Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis. BJU Int 2007;99:864–9.

3.  Taylor JR, Lockwood AP, Taylor AJ. The prepuce: Specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision. Br J Urol 1996;77:291–5.

4.  Cold CJ, Taylor JR. The prepuce. BJU Int 1999;83 (1 suppl):34–44.

Source:  J Sex Med 2007;4:1516

Further information on John Taylor's website: The ridged band.