Patent ID: 8237012

Claim:
An absorbent article having a substantially oblong shape comprising: a liquid permeable top sheet; a back sheet; an absorbent body having elasticity, disposed between the top sheet and the back sheet; and compressed portions compressing the top sheet and the absorbent body and comprising a first compressed portion and a second compressed portion disposed at an outer side of the first compressed portion, wherein the first compressed portion is disposed continuously so as to form a substantially U-shaped portion protruding in a longitudinal direction of the absorbent article, the substantially U-shaped portion being formed in a vicinity of an edge portion of the absorbent body and fixing the top sheet to the absorbent body by pressure bonding at substantially one point in an end of the substantially U-shaped portion that protrudes most in the longitudinal direction while not fixing the top sheet to the absorbent body in a portion other than at the one point, and, in a region including the end of the substantially U-shaped portion, the first and second portions extend substantially parallel to each other in the longitudinal direction and in a width direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, the absorbent body comprising: a low elasticity portion, disposed on a part of the absorbent body and formed so that resiliency weakens when compression to a prescribed thickness is carried out, wherein the low elasticity portion occupies a predetermined region including the end of said U-shaped portion and is formed to be substantially around the end of the substantially U-shaped portion that protrudes most in the longitudinal direction, wherein the low elasticity portion is thinner than an adjacent portion adjacent thereto and thinner than an average thickness of the absorbent body, and an amount of absorbent material forming the low elasticity portion is less than the amount of absorbent material in the adjacent portion.