How big is the clitoris? Where is it located and how is it structured? Many medical professionals cannot answer these confidently — not for lack of curiosity but because female genital anatomy has been studied far less thoroughly than male anatomy.
A new 3D study from the Netherlands led by neuroscientist Ju Young Lee at Amsterdam University Medical Center helps close some of these gaps. Researchers used synchrotron radiation, a very high‑resolution X‑ray method, to image two female bodies donated to science. Unlike MRI, synchrotron imaging can resolve fine peripheral nerve pathways in three dimensions.
The team traced 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 in a tree‑like pattern toward the surface; some trunks measure up to about 0.7 millimeters in diameter. Contrary to earlier assumptions that nerves simply taper, the scans show a complex branching network. Some branches extend beyond the glans into the clitoral hood and reach the mons pubis (the fatty tissue over the pubic bone).
Independent experts say the advance is not discovering a new structure but finally visualizing 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,” said Georga Longhurst, division lead of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of London. Previous dissections and MRI hinted at these nerves but never at this resolution.
The clitoris has been overlooked in anatomy for decades because it was often reduced to its visible tip, when most of the organ lies inside the body. Australian urologist Helen O’Connell used MRI to show the clitoris is a large and complex organ — roughly 8 to 12 centimeters in total length when internal structures are included — with erectile tissue extending beneath the pubic bone and around the vaginal opening. The glans is only the external portion.
Lee, who joined the Human Organ Atlas Hub project that aims to map human organs with synchrotron imaging, chose to include the clitoris so it would not be neglected. Since the preprint was released, surgeons have contacted her saying the detailed anatomy will help avoid nerve damage during operations in the vulvar region.
The study’s data are relevant for vulvar procedures including childbirth-related repairs, gender‑affirming surgeries and reconstructive surgery after genital mutilation. Mandy Mangler, a senior gynecologist and head of obstetrics, said the images offer solid proof of nerve extensions clinicians suspected but could not clearly see. She noted that the clitoris is barely covered in medical education, so clinicians sometimes fail to connect postoperative pain, sensory loss or sexual dysfunction to prior surgeries or childbirth.
Mangler compared the situation to men’s health, where nerve preservation in penile surgery is routine and well studied. The disparity exemplifies the gender health gap, where standards common in men’s care are often missing for women due to historical neglect rather than intent. She argues that clitoral anatomy and physiology should be routinely considered and protected in gynecological and obstetric care.
The researchers caution this is not the final picture. The study used only two post‑mortem samples from older women, so how clitoral structure and function change across puberty, pregnancy, the menstrual cycle or menopause remains largely unexplored. “As a scientist, having a complete picture is not possible,” Lee said, noting that future technologies will add insight. Longhurst urged that clitoris science move out of the niche and expand.
The new 3D maps mark a step toward better understanding and protecting clitoral nerves in clinical practice, but more research across ages, conditions and larger samples is needed to complete the anatomical and functional picture. Edited by: Carla Bleiker