New 3D images reveal the clitoris’s complex nerve network, highlighting long‑standing gaps in medical understanding of the female body.How big is the clitoris? Where exactly is it located? And how is it structured? If you’re unsure, you’re not alone. Many medical professionals struggle to answer these questions with confidence. This isn’t due to a lack of curiosity on an individual level, but rather a structural problem: Key organs of the female body have long been studied far less thoroughly than their male counterparts.

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Take the penis, for example — the clitoris’s male counterpart. Both share the same embryological origin, contain erectile tissue, become engorged during arousal and play a central role in sexual pleasure. Yet most people can readily answer questions such as "How big is a penis?" or "How is it anatomically structured?" Those answers, after all, are standard material in biology textbooks.

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Mapping the clitoris in 3D

A new 3D study from the Netherlands is now helping to close some of these long‑standing knowledge gaps. A research team led by neuroscientist Ju Young Lee at Amsterdam University Medical Center investigated two female bodies that were donated to science using synchrotron radiation — an exceptionally high‑resolution form of X‑ray imaging. The technology allows structures to be visualized in microscopic detail. Conventional methods such as MRI can capture larger anatomical features, but they are not able to fully reconstruct the fine nerve pathways of the clitoris in three dimensions.

The images reveal just how complex the clitoral nerve system really is. The researchers traced the three‑dimensional course of the dorsal nerve of the clitoris, the organ’s primary sensory nerve, from the pelvis into the clitoral glans. Inside the glans, several large nerve trunks branch out in a tree‑like branching pattern toward the surface — some measuring up to 0.7 millimeters in diameter.

Contrary to earlier assumptions, the nerves do not taper but instead form a complex, tree‑like branching pattern. The images also show that some nerve branches extend beyond the glans into the clitoral hood and as far as the mons pubis, the fatty tissue over the pubic bone.

Independent experts say the advance lies less in discovering a new structure than in finally seeing it in full detail. "For the first time, the full trajectory of the terminal nerve branches of the clitoris has been mapped in three dimensions," Georga Longhurst, division lead of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of London, told DW. "Previous dissections and MRI studies showed these nerves before, but never to this level of detail."

An organ overlooked for decades

One reason the clitoris has been neglected for so long is that, for decades, it was reduced to its visible tip, when in reality, most of the organ lies inside the body. This broader anatomical understanding only began to enter the medical mainstream in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

A pivotal figure in this shift was Australian urologist Helen O’Connell. Using MRI, she demonstrated that the clitoris is not a tiny external "nub," but a large and complex organ — measuring around 8 to 12 centimeters (3.1 to 4.7 inches) in total length when its internal structures are included. The visible glans is merely the external part of a structure that extends beneath the pubic bone and surrounds the vaginal opening, composed of erectile tissue that fills with blood during arousal.

Clitoris no focus of research so far

Ju Young Lee trained as a neuroscientist, with a long‑standing focus on the brain. In recent years, however, neuroscience has increasingly turned its attention to peripheral nerve systems, such as the gut. At a major European neuroscience conference, Lee once asked whether anyone was studying how nerves in gynecological organs communicate with the brain. The response from a panelist stuck with her: "Oh, I’d never thought about that."

Lee couldn’t let the question go. After completing her PhD, she joined Amsterdam University Medical Center — part of the international Human Organ Atlas Hub, a project aiming to systematically map the human body using synchrotron imaging. Think of it as a kind of Google Earth for human anatomy.

"The clitoris is, of course, one of the human organs," Lee told DW. "So it was important to include it."

Why this matters for medicine

Since the preprint was released, Lee says surgeons have already contacted her to say the findings are helpful in their daily work. Knowing the detailed anatomy of the clitoris "will help surgeons operating on the vulva region to avoid nerve damage," she explains.

The study authors emphasize that the data may be particularly relevant for surgeries involving the vulva, such as childbirth, gender-affirming surgeries and reconstructive surgeries following genital mutilation.

How large the gap between research and clinical reality still is becomes clear when speaking to Mandy Mangler, a senior gynecologist and head of obstetrics at a Berlin hospital. When she saw the new images, she was impressed — not because they overturned everything she knew, but because they finally provided solid proof.

"There is far too little scientific research on the clitoris," Mangler told DW. "The idea that nerves extend to the mons pubis and the labia was plausible — now it’s finally shown."

That matters not only for surgery and sexual medicine, but also for the treatment of genital injuries. Mangler points out that the clitoris barely features in medical education. As a result, doctors operate in the vulvar region without fully understanding the underlying nerve anatomy. Pain, sensory loss or sexual dysfunction are therefore often not linked back to previous surgeries or childbirth.

The penis, clitoris and the gender health gap

Mangler draws a blunt comparison to men’s health. In her hospital, she shares operating facilities with urologists.

"I see daily how much effort is made to preserve nerves during penile surgery," she says. "There's research, training and awareness. When it comes to the clitoris, no one seems to care."

For Mangler, this is a textbook example of the gender health gap — medical standards that are routine for men but missing for women, not out of malice but because of historical neglect. It’s a topic she also addresses in her recent book "Don’t Miss the Clitoris."

Not the final picture

In public reports, the study has been described by some as the first "complete mapping" of the clitoral nerves. Lee explicitly disagrees with that wording. Only two post‑mortem samples from older women were examined. How structure and function of the clitoris change over a lifetime — during puberty, pregnancy, menopause or across the menstrual cycle — remains largely unexplored.

"As a scientist, having a complete picture is not possible," Lee adds. "Future technologies will bring more insight." There are many more puzzle pieces to be solved — and Lee hopes to explore them. The new clitoral study is not an endpoint.

"The field of clitoris science should expand," Longhurst also says. "It should no longer be a niche interest."

Mangler says that the way doctors treat the clitoris needs to change.

"In every gynecological surgery and in obstetric care, the anatomy and physiology of the clitoris should be considered and protected," she says, "just as routinely as we do with the penis."

Edited by: Carla Bleiker

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 16, 2026 07:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).