Ending the Myth of the Preputal Sphincter, and Why Skin Tightening Surgeries are Unnecessary
One of the most common concerns that new restorers have is that a restored foreskin will be too loose and won’t tighten over the glans. Although there are plenty of photos online of restored foreskins that clearly show this isn’t the case, this myth continues to circulate. It has even led to some men getting surgeries to tighten the end of their restored foreskin. Not only is this unnecessary, it is also not recreating any anatomical structure of an intact foreskin. A lot of the confusion around this subject comes from a misunderstanding of the ridged band, which is a specialized structure that is removed during circumcision. To get a better understanding, we first need to look at what the ridged band is and what it does.
What the ridged band is
The ridged band is band of ridged tissue that encircles the shaft of the penis at the junction of the outer skin and the inner mucosa. It is distinguished by its high density of nerve endings, and contains the majority of nerve endings in the foreskin.(1) The main function of the ridged band appears to be erotic sensation, and the detection of stretching during intercourse is thought to play an important role in pleasure and orgasms.(2)
What the ridged band is NOT
I think that the biggest misunderstanding about the ridged band has to do with the word band. It is only a band in that it goes all the way around the penis. People see the word band and assume that it has some sort rubber band like quality that acts as a sphincter to close the tip of the foreskin. This is not true, and there is no evidence of any special arrangement of muscle fibers anywhere on the foreskin, including the ridged band, that act as a sphincter. As I have already written about here, the arrangement of smooth muscle fibers is random and uniform throughout the entire foreskin. When researcher Geoffrey Jefferson examined 10 different foreskin samples under a microscope, these were the results:
“There was no special collection of fibers such as might be thought to indicate a sphincter in any of the specimens I examined, but the sphincteric possibilities of any part of the preputial portion of the muscle cannot be denied.”(3)
This quote can finally put to rest the myth that the ridged band acts as a sphincter to close the foreskin. The last part of the quote is also important, as it shows that the entire length of the foreskin has the ability to expand and contract. This means that even the skin remaining after circumcision has the ability to tighten due to the presence of the dartos fascia. I have made the case here that the dartos fascia does proliferate and grow during restoration, which likely explains why restored foreskin does have the ability to contract at the tip as we see in the many photos of restored foreskins.
So, if there is no sphincter in an intact foreskin, and restored foreskin can tighten on its own, then tightening surgeries have no purpose. They aren’t recreating or reconstructing any anatomical structure that exists in an intact foreskin. Other than being unnecessary, surgery has risks in and of itself. It is going to create new scar tissue, and the healing and recovery period can be several months and have complications due to erections. My hope is that this myth can be finally put to rest, allowing hesitant men to start restoration, and save others from another unnecessary surgery.
References:
1. https://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor/
2. https://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor2/
3. https://cirp.org/library/anatomy/jefferson/
Image: Ipipipourax, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons