THE CARCINOGENICITY OF SMEGMA:
DEBUNKING A MYTH.
Smegma is widely believed to cause penile, cervical and prostate cancer. This nearly ubiquitous myth continues to permeate the medical literature despite a lack of valid supportive evidence.
Smegma, the collection of material in the subpreputial space, is perhaps the most maligned of all human products.
This normal substance has been causally linked to cervical, prostatic and penile cancers, all matters unhygienic, and any preputial pathology for which a clear aetiology has not been established.
While these associations are widely endorsed and disseminated, the scientific evidence supporting these claims is flimsy, or non-existent.
In this review we explore the physical attributes of smegma, its function, its epidemiology, and the attempts to demonstrate its carcinogenic capabilities.
Finally, to develop a full appreciation of the current status of smegma in the scientific community, the interpretation of smegma’s role in health and in disease over the past two centuries needs to be chronicled.
The inner surface of the foreskin and the surface of the glans penis are mucosal membranes that must remain moist to function properly.
Smegma beneficially serves to preserve subpreputial wetness.
Smegma takes on the colour of the inner lining of the prepuce and is darker in highly pigmented individuals.
In most men it is odourless, but it has been reported to harden into ‘smegma stones’ in men with extremely poor hygienic habits.
Chemically, smegma contains immunologically active compounds such as cathepsin B, lysozyme, chymotrypsin, neutrophil elastase, cytokines, and hormones such as androsterone.
Lytic materials, such as lysozyme, which probably originates from the prostate and seminal vesicles, destroy bacterial cell walls and inhibit and destroy Candidal species.
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