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The '''ridged band''' is a band of highly innervated wrinkly skin just inside the tip of the [[foreskin]]. The term ''ridged'' is used to describe the area instead of the more commonly used term ''wrinkled''. It has, especially in regard to [[phimosis]] (and preputioplasty), been called '''preputial ring''' or '''phimotic ring''', ''ring'' being analogous to ''band'', referring to the shape, and ''preputial'' meaning ''pertaining to the [[Foreskin|prepuce]]''. More particularly, it refers to the transitional area from the external to the internal surface of the prepuce, or foreskin. 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 nerve endings in the ridged band are stimulated by deformation of their capsules. Deformation of the capsules may occur by pressure, by [[stretching ]] of the [[foreskin]], or by the [[Gliding action| rolling or gliding of the foreskin ]] during sexual activity.

Because of its location, the ridged band is invariably excised if a male is [[circumcised]].

The late [[John R. Taylor]], MB, Ch.B., MRCPEd, {{FRCPC}}, a British-Canadian pathologist and biomedical researcher who practiced medicine at the [https://www.hsc.mb.ca/| Health Sciences Centre] in Winnipeg, MB, first used the term "ridged band" instead of "wrinkly [[skin]]" and described the ridged band at the ''Second International Symposium on Circumcision'', organized by [http://www.nocirc.org [NOCIRC]] in San Francisco, 1991, after examining the foreskins of 22 adults obtained at autopsy. The mean age was 37 years, range 22–58. The prepuces were studied grossly and histologically.His research was later published by the ''British Journal of Urology'' in 1996.<ref name="taylor1996">{{TaylorJR LockwoodAP TaylorAJ 1996}}</ref>

<!--[[Image:Ridged band magnified10x.jpeg|thumb|right|271px|Part of a ridged band under 10&times; magnification. The delicate and highly innervated [[mucosa ]] features many ridges which increase sensitivity through increased surface area.]]-->[[John R. Taylor|Taylor ]] described the ridged band as a transversely ridged band of mucosal [[mucosa]]l tissue, located just inside the tip of the foreskin near the mucocutaneous boundary. He characterized the ridged band as intensely vascular and richly innervated, stating that it "contains more [[Meissner's corpuscles ]] than does the smooth [[mucosa]]", and noted that these tactile corpuscles were found only in the crests of ridges.<ref>{{REFjournal | lastname=Taylor | first=JR | coauthors=Lockwood AP, Taylor AJ | title=The prepuce: specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision | journal=Br J Urol | date=1996 | volume=77 | issue= | pages=291-295 | url=http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor"taylor1996" / | quote= | pubmedID=8800902 | pubmedCID= | DOI=10.1046/j.1464-410x.1996.85023.x | accessdate=2019-09-23}}</ref>

| last=Winkelmann | firstinit=RK | coauthors= | title=The cutaneous innervation of human newborn prepuce. | journal=Journal of Investigative Dermatology | date=1956 | volume=26 | issue=1 | pages=53-67 | url=http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/winkelmann2/ | quote= | pubmedID=13295637 | pubmedCID= | DOI=10.1038/jid.1956.5 | accessdate=2019-09-24

<blockquote>The complex interaction between the protopathic sensitivity of the corpuscular receptor-deficient glans penis and the corpuscular receptor-rich ridged band of the male prepuce is required for normal copulatory behaviour.<refname="cold-taylor">{{ColdCJ TaylorJR 1999}}</ref></blockquote> Taylor (2003) reported: <blockquote> Work in progress shows that [[stretching]] the prepuce and its ridged band triggers reflex contraction of muscles of the bulb of penis known to be associated with ejaculation and, not insignificantly, erogenous sensation.<ref name="taylor2003">{{REFjournal | last=ColdTaylor | first=CJJohn R. |init=JR |author-link=John R. Taylor |title=Letter |journal= Can Fam Physician |date=2003 |volume=49 |issue= |pages=1592 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/sex_function/taylor3/ |quote= |pubmedID=14708921 |pubmedCID=2214164 |DOI= |accessdate=2019-09-28}} </ref></blockquote> Taylor (2007) commented:<blockquote>The range of functions of the ridged band remains uncertain but it is deeply corrugated, rich in distortion-sensitive [[Meissner's 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]].<ref name="taylor2007A">{{REFjournal | coauthorslast=Taylor |first=John R. |init=JR |author-link=John R. Taylor | title=The PrepuceFine touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis | journal=BJU Int | date=19992007 | volume=83 100 |issue=1 |pages=218 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/sex_function/taylor2007/ |quote= |pubmedID=17552969 |pubmedCID= |DOI=10.1111/j.1464-410X.2007.07026_4.x |accessdate=2019-09-28}}</ref></blockquote>Taylor (Suppl 12007)also remarked:<blockquote>The ridged band of prepuce is tucked just inside the tip of the unretracted prepuce; it is a richly vascular muscosal tissue heavily innervated by movement-sensitive [[Meissner's corpuscles]]. In addition to touch sensitivity, the ridged band is uniquely ridged or corrugated, and not surprisingly, work in progress indicates that retraction or stetching of this accordion like structure triggers reflex contraction of bulbocavernosus and bulbospongious. 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.<ref name="taylor207B">{{REFjournal |last=Taylor |first=John R. |init=JR |author-link=John R. Taylor |title=The forgotten foreskin and its ridged band |journal=J Sex Med |date=2007-09 |volume=4 | issue=February5 | pages=34-441516 | url=https://www.jidonlinejsm.jsexmed.org/article/S0022S1743-202X6095(15)4880431653-92/pdffulltext | quote= | pubmedID=1329563717727357 | pubmedCID= | DOI=10.10381111/jidj.1743-6109.2007.00588.x |accessdate=2019-09-28}}</ref></blockquote> More recent studies provide additional evidence of the sensory and sexual function of the ridged band and foreskin. Kim & Pang (2007), working in [[South Korea]], report that 48 percent of men experience less pleasure from [[masturbation]] after [[circumcision]] and 63 percent report an increase in difficulty of [[masturbation]].<ref>{{KimDS PangMG 2007}}</ref> Podnar (2012), working in Slovenia, compared the sexual response of normal [[intact]] men and [[circumcised]] men. The bulbo-covernosus reflex was elicitable in 92 percent of normal intact men, but it was elicitable in only 27 percent of circumcised men.1956<ref>{{REFjournal |last=Podnar |init=S |title=Clinical elicitation of the penilo-caversosus reflex in circumcised men. |journal=BJU Int |date=2012-02 |volume=109 |issue=4 |pages=582-5 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2011.10364.x |quote= |pubmedID=22897330 |pubmedCID= |DOI=10.1111/j.1464-410X.2011.10364.x | accessdate=2019-09-2428}}</ref> ==Summary== The ridged band area is situated just inside the tip of the [[foreskin]]. The ridged band area contains [[Meissner's corpuscles]] arranged in rete ridges. The [[Meissner's corpuscles]] are stimulated by motion and [[stretching]]. The foreskin contains a layer of muscle tissue called the dartos fascia.<ref name="cold-taylor"/blockquote> [[Dartos| The dartos fascia]] allows a considerable degree of motion and [[stretching]] to stimulate the [[Meissner's corpuscles]], which provides significant stimulation during sexual activity.

 {{SEEALSO}}* [[Acroposthion]]* [http://www.infocirc.org/townsend/anatomy2.htm Your Anatomy[Foreskin sensitivity]] Site illustrating the ridged band* [http://www.sexdictionary.info/ridged%20ban_frenulum.html Ridged band and frenulum[Penis]] (SexDictionary.info)