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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by TrevorPerry (talk | contribs) at 21:16, 28 September 2004 (Added mention of circumcision, added "see also", added Taylor's bias). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The ridged band was first described by John R. Taylor, a Canadian pathologist, and others in an article that was published in the British Journal of Urology in 1996. Taylor described a band of highly innervated and vascularised tissue located just inside the tip of the foreskin of the human male near the mucocutaneous boundary. The combination of high vascularity and high innervation make the ridged band a nerve and vascular plexus.

The ridged band separates the outer skin of the penis from the inner mucosa. The ridged band contains nerve endings arranged at the crest of rete ridges. The nerve endings resemble Meissner corpuscles or Krause end-bulbs.

The ridged band is removed, along with the frenulum, during circumcision.

Taylor is a known opponent of circumcision.

See Also

• Circumcision
• Foreskin
• Medical analysis of circumcision

External links

Note: the three articles listed below can be accessed through CIRP (Circumcision Information Resource Pages), an internet library of medical reports and articles. CIRP does not support the practice of circumcision. CIRP is described on the British Medical Journal website as having "useful information on the subject."

• Winkelmann RK. The erogenous zones: their nerve supply and significance. Mayo Clin Proc 1959;34(2):39-47. URL: http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/winkelmann/

• Taylor JR, Lockwood AP, Taylor AJ. The prepuce: specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision. Br J Urol 1996;77:291-295. URL: http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor/

• The Ridged Band: Specialized Sexual Tissue URL: http://research.cirp.org/ (John R. Taylor responsible for site content)