Keywords Prepuce, ridged band, Meissner's corpuscle, specialized mucosa, circumcision. Not surprisingly, articles and editorials on the advantages and disadvantages of circumcision consistently fail to discuss the prepuce as a tissue worthy of preservation in its own right. Ten prepuces extended to or beyond the tip of the glans and 12 prepuces failed to reach the tip of the glans. Unknown amounts of true skin were missing from the shaft of the circumcised adult penis. Therefore, four circumcised babies, 1-3 years of age, who had died for reasons unrelated to circumcision, were also reviewed.
Dotted line indicates tip of retracted prepuce.
When magnified, the ridged mucosa has a pebbled or coral-like appearance. A penis from an elderly male with cyanosis. Mucosal histology The inner surface of the prepuce is lined by variably-keratinized squamous epithelium similar to frictional of the mouth, vagina and oesophagus. Papillae are continuous with a highly vascular, loose-knit tissue layer that resembles the corium of oral mucosa. Smooth muscle bundles are common to both shaft skin and preputial mucosa.