Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Prepuce / ˈ p r iː p juː s /, or as an adjective, preputial / p r ɪ ˈ p juː ʃ əl /, refers to two homologous structures of male and female genitals: Foreskin , skin surrounding and protecting the head of the penis in humans
Almost all mammal penises have foreskins or prepuces, [1] although in non-human cases, the foreskin is usually a sheath (sometimes called the preputial sheath, [2] praeputium [3] or penile sheath [4]) into which the whole penis is retracted. In koalas, the foreskin contains naturally occurring bacteria that play an important role in ...
In female humans and other mammals, [1] the clitoral hood (also called preputium clitoridis, clitoral prepuce, and clitoral foreskin) [2] is a fold of skin that surrounds and protects the glans of the clitoris; it also covers the external clitoral shaft, develops as part of the labia minora and is homologous with the foreskin (also called the prepuce) in the male reproductive system.
Together with the testes and surrounding structures, the penis functions as part of the male reproductive system. The main parts of the penis are the root, body, the epithelium of the penis including the shaft skin, and the foreskin covering the glans.
At around ten weeks, the external genitalia are still similar. At the base of the glans, there is a groove known as the coronal sulcus or corona glandis. It is the site of attachment of the future prepuce. Just anterior to the anal tubercle, the caudal end of the left and right urethral folds fuse to form the urethral raphe.
The frenulum is the highly vascularized elastic band of tissue located on the underside of the glans that connects the foreskin to the head of the penis. The frenulum is supple enough to allow the retraction of the foreskin over the glans and pull it back when the erection is gone. [18] In flaccid state, it tightens to narrow the foreskin ...
The preputial mucosa of the penis is the epithelium of the inside of the prepuce, or foreskin. [1] To differentiate it from the cutaneous skin of the outside of the prepuce, it is sometimes referred to as the inner mucosa.
In modern times, there is controversy regarding whether the foreskin is a vital or vestigial structure. [52] In 1949, British physician Douglas Gairdner noted that the foreskin plays an important protective role in newborns. He wrote, "It is often stated that the prepuce is a vestigial structure devoid of function ...