I don’t know how to say it without being TMI in the topic. I always assumed that the perianal area was usually darker because of how the skin is kind of thick there. Whenever the fascinating and mysterious topic of anal bleaching comes up, I always see someone use the word “stain.” I always thought that was just stupid. But I was thinking about it again today when all of a sudden I realized that there is thick skin on my elbows, and there is thick skin on my feet, and it’s not brown!
So, um, I really don’t get it. My cat has gone poo many times in her life, but her bum is pink. We all have the benefit of toilet paper, showers, bidets, tucks, and yet… How is that possible?
I will just come out and ask: What causes the mysterious perianal tan? And if it’s what I think it is, how is that possible?
I misread the header as “What causes perennial brownness” and was about to suggest watering the poor thing more often during the warmer months. :rolleyes:
The skin is darker there because there is a much higher concentration of apocrine glands in the bunghole region. There are also more apocrine sweat glands in the crotch area, which explains why some women’s crotches appear discolored.
Men also have another racing strip - a raphe that sort of runs down the center of the scroctum (women get a tan line along their midline when their pregnant, too).
For what’s its worth, I sunbathe sans clothing alot, and my genitals always get a deep tan - I don’t know why the melanin would be more concentrated in that area.
That line marks the embyronic fusion of the labioscrotal fold from the early stages of sex differentiation. (ie; if we had two X chromasomes, the cells that became the two halves of our ballsacks would have expressed as labia majoris, instead.)
Does this “racing stripe” wash off? If yes, then it’s not a scar and you may wish to alter some of your personal habits. You know, there’s nothing like racing stripes to make a “whang” into a “WHANG!”
Hmm. I’m skeptical because armpits aren’t brown. And if people really do get their asses bleached, and I don’t even know if they do, how could apocrine glands be bleached?
I’ve actually noticed quite a few people with darker armpits, but have read that that’s from the deoderant and that gentle exfoliation every so often will help that.
Just a somewhat-educated WAG, but a mutation in the germline is more of a problem for the species than a mutation in a random skin cell somewhere. Because scrotal skin is very thin to begin with, maybe the extra melanin is there to protect the developing sperm from UV rays?
I suppose this doesn’t really explain anything if women’s parts tan darker too… but I tried.
I’ve wondered about this before, and I really don’t think it’s poop-stain.
Best I could find on a quick search for “anal bleaching” was an advice column on an adult website called PuckerUp. (Does it really need more warning than that?) The direct link, which I wouldn’t call work-safe, is pretty tame. No popups.
Gets a bit more graphic after that and doesn’t really answer the question, so I won’t quote the rest here.
[WAG] It’s the “puckered flesh” part that I think is the explanation for the darker color. I guess some people have that kind of skin where it has such fine wrinkles that it appears darker.[/WAG]
Just another WAG, but could it have anything to do with hormonal changes? When a woman becomes pregnant, her nipples typically darken. I’ve drawn nude models for years & never noticed particularly dark genitalia - but almost all of the models are young people.
My babies’ bums are almost colorless, barely pink.