[ ARC forum 2 ]

Re: Medical question?

Written by Paul B. at 12 Oct 2001 14:30:36:

As an answer to: Medical question? written by jake at 12 Oct 2001 12:09:17:

> Why do some men have and others don't have meatal lips on urethral opening?
> The one they do have them are they likely to have problems because of that-narrowness?

Well, Jake, the meatus is the opening of the urethra, it's just a name for where a tube opens onto the surface.

The meatal lips are the edge of this opening, sometimes they are a sharp corner like the edge of a block of wood, sometimes they roll inward, and sometimes they poke outward a bit like the lips on your mouth. What shape they are has absolutely no significance at all except how straight a stream you make when you pee (urinate).

The epithelium is the surface layer of cells. Your skin is thick but the lining (inside surface) of the urethra is very thin - so thin you can easily see the small blood vessels through it.

The only problem with narrowness of the urethral meatus is that if little boys are circumcised, which I understand very few are in the Baltic region, the meatus is exposed and subject to damage which causes it to scar and become narrow, which is called Meatal Stenosis. It may occasionally persist in adulthood.

Have a good look at the pictures on the foreskin.org site.


Answers: