Changes

This junction makes up the so-called ridged band. At the underside of the penis, in the area of the seam, the inner foreskin layer is connected to the glans by the frenulum.

Like the shaft skin, the foreskin layers are neither fused to the penis, nor to each other, but are moveable against each other. This enables the foreskin to be retracted all the way past the glans.

At the point of birth, the development of the external male genital organs is not completely finished. At this stage, the foreskin and glans share an epithelium (mucous layer, the balanopreputial membrane) that fuses the two together. It serves to protect the glans during infancy, and dissolves as the child develops.