Patent ID: 7594905

Claim:
A sanitary napkin comprising a napkin body containing a liquid absorbent layer for absorption and retention of liquid and a three-dimensional structure disposed on a skin-side surface of the napkin body, wherein the three-dimensional structure includes a reinforcing member and a liquid-permeable sheet covering a skin-side surface of the reinforcing member, the reinforcing member acting to keep the three-dimensional structure bulging from the skin-side surface of the napkin body and capable of being deformed by a load exerted on the three-dimensional structure, wherein the reinforcing member forms two walls opposing in a width direction of the sanitary napkin with a hollow therebetween, the reinforcing member is formed of a fibrous layer, a width of the reinforcing member decreases toward an apex of the reinforcing member, the apex extending in a longitudinal direction of the sanitary napkin, the reinforcing member having high-density portions and low-density portions formed in the two walls, such that the low-density portions have a density that is lower than the high-density portions and alternate with the high-density portions along the longitudinal direction of the sanitary napkin, the high-density portions each extending linearly from the skin-side surface of the napkin body to the apex of the reinforcing member, an elastic member is affixed at the apex of the reinforcing member, and when front and rear ends of the three-dimensional structure are brought closer to each other with the skin-side surface of the napkin body concavely curved by a longitudinal contractive force of the elastic member, the low density portions deform allowing the high density portions to be brought closer to one another at the apex, and such that a length of the reinforcing member along the apex decreases more than a length of the reinforcing member along the skin-side surface of the napkin body.