8000 Nerve Endings? Actually, the Clitoris Has More - Medpage Today

MIAMI -- The oft-cited assertion that determination are much than 8,000 nervus endings successful the clitoris comes from a 1976 book by Thomas Lowry and Thea Lowry, successful notation to a survey of cows. No 1 had fact-checked that assertion successful humans -- until now.

There are, successful fact, an mean of 10,280 nervus fibers according to a histomorphometric valuation of the dorsal nervus of the clitoris presented by Blair Peters, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University successful Portland, astatine the Sexual Medicine Society of North America yearly meeting.

"This accusation is already straight informing techniques I usage to optimize sensation successful gender-affirming surgeries, and should pass aboriginal work" related to restoring sensation for patients with dorsal nervus oregon clitoris injuries, said Peters.

The researchers recovered a mean fig of 5,140 nervus fibers (range 4,926 to 5,543) successful idiosyncratic clitoral dorsal nervus samples from consenting transmasculine patients undergoing phalloplasty. Because determination are 2 dorsal nerves successful the clitoris, doubling the mean nervus fibers number brought the fig to 10,280 (range 9,852 to 11,086).

"Compare that to the median nervus that we're each acquainted with for carpal passageway syndrome that innervates astir of the quality manus -- that is 18,000 nervus fibers," said Peters. "So comparison the size of a manus to the size of the glans of the clitoris, and it gives you discourse of however densely innervated the operation really is."

While aesculapian survey of the penis, including its sensory anatomy, is extensive, the clitoris has agelong been overlooked successful aesculapian literature, and its nerves poorly represented successful aesculapian textbooks. Quantifying the nervus fibers successful the quality clitoris has a scope of applicable applications, from improving reconstruction pursuing clitoral injuries, restoration pursuing genital mutilation, and improving sensory outcomes successful gender-affirming surgery.

"There are radical who person full fellowships that are devoted to preserving erectile function, making erections straight, and they walk years and years doing this truly specialized method training, becoming truly acquainted with the innervation of not lone the skin, but the corporal bodies that capable with blood," said Rainey Horwitz, MS, a aesculapian pupil astatine St. Louis University School of Medicine, who was not progressive successful the study. "Not a azygous specialty has done that for the clitoris, oregon truly feels immoderate urgency oregon request to bash that."

Kimberly Lovie, MD, manager of aesculapian imaging and AI astatine New H Medical successful New York City and the manager of probe and improvement astatine the intersexual wellness institution Cerē, said that this probe is simply a ground for preventing harm to the clitoris during country for endometriosis oregon labiaplasty, for example.

For galore different parts of the body, "you bash after-imaging to spot if your country helped, if it caused harm by accident, and to spot if determination were immoderate complications," said Lovie, who was not progressive successful the study. "And that's truly not done for the vulva astatine all. It's not done for the clitoris."

Researchers utilized dorsal clitoral nervus samples from 7 transmasculine patients anterior to phalloplasty. To number the nerves, the 5 mm samples were sectioned into bladed 1 μm cross-sections, stained, and past magnified 1,000 times utilizing a microscope and imaging software. The researchers assumed anatomic symmetry of the 2 dorsal nerves to get their full nervus count. Peters noted that the survey did not relationship for unmyelinated nerves, truthful the number is apt higher.

Neither Horwitz nor Lovie said they had ever learned astir the anatomy of the clitoris successful aesculapian school, a information that bothered them erstwhile patients asked questions.

"The value is," Horwitz said of the caller study, "we're not cows."