What is the length of the female urethra?

Doesn’t everyone think they know their body very well? Do you know about some private matters? In the past, the economy was not as developed as it is now, and people’s cultural level was not as high as it is now! Therefore, in the past, people would not discuss these embarrassing things, and it can be said that they did not know much about them! However, people nowadays are more open-minded and have a better understanding of all aspects of their bodies! So, do you know how long the female urethra is? I believe this is something that everyone would find embarrassing!

The urethra is the tube that leads from the bladder to the outside of the body. The male urethra is slender, about 18 cm long, starting from the internal urethral opening of the bladder and going up to the external urethral opening. It passes through the prostate, membranous part and corpus cavernosum of the penis. The male urethra has both urination and ejaculation functions. The female urethra is thick and short, about 5 cm long. It starts from the internal urethra, passes through the front of the vagina, and opens into the vaginal vestibule. The male urethra has a sphincter composed of circular striated muscle in the membranous part of the urethra, called the external urethral sphincter, which is controlled by consciousness. When the female urethra passes through the urogenital diaphragm at the perineum, it is surrounded by the urethrovaginal sphincter, which is a striated muscle and is also controlled by the will.

The female urethra is very short, only 2.5-5 cm long, with an average of 3.5 cm, and a diameter of about 8 mm. It is easy to expand and can reach 10-13 mm. It has no bends and starts from the bladder neck and runs downward and forward to the urethral opening behind the pubic symphysis in front of the vagina.

composition

The female urethra can be divided into three parts: the upper tissue structure and the bladder neck.

The female urethra is consistent. The circular muscle of the bladder neck is continuous with the circular muscle of the upper urethra and is particularly thickened at the neck, which is different from the sphincter of the male bladder neck, which is composed of the left and right middle and outer layer muscle fibers crossing each other. Female internal sphincter,

It is composed entirely of circular smooth muscle fibers that surround the entire bladder neck and upper urethra. Therefore, the action of the internal sphincter is particularly strong in women. In the middle urethra, there are voluntary circular muscles outside the smooth muscle layer. Although this muscle layer is not very obvious, it also has some external sphincter function. The lower urethra, which is the urethral opening, has no muscles, only two layers of triangular ligament fibrous tissue. In addition, the levator ani muscles, deep perineal muscles and triangular ligament also play an auxiliary role in controlling female bladder urine.

organize

The mucosal epithelium in the middle and outer parts is a quadratic epithelium similar to the vaginal mucosa, and the upper part transforms into the same transitional epithelium as the bladder neck. There is loose tissue between the submucosal layer and the muscle layer, and outside the muscle layer there is a rich venous network tissue, namely the urethral spongy tissue. Urethral glands are abundant in the female urethra, the most prominent of which are the paraurethral glands, which contain columnar epithelium that secretes mucus.

Lymph of the urethra: There are many lymphatic vessels and lymph glands under the urethral mucosa, which drain the lymph to the inguinal and subgastric lymph nodes on both sides.

Blood supply to the urethra: The inferior vesical artery supplies the upper urethra, the vaginal artery supplies the middle urethra, and the internal pudendal artery supplies the lower urethra. The veins return to the bladder, vagina, and pudendal venous plexus.

Physiology of the urethra: The main function of the female urethra is to urinate and secrete mucus; the urethral gland is also an accessory gland that secretes transparent protein-containing mucus, which serves to increase lubrication during sexual intercourse.

Although this is a bit embarrassing, it is good for each of us to understand this! So, don’t be too rigid about formalities and feel embarrassed! Existence is the truth, we just need to understand the truth better!