[The labium tertium pudendi feminae. A prospective study of 1,180 patients]

About a third labium (labium tertium pudendi feminae). In a half years investigation the question was studied, how often you may find variations from the well known pattern of the vulva: In 5.3% of 1180 Patients we found between the labium majus and minus a third labium, located ventral in the rima pudendi: Most frequently we found this third labium in the females between 21 and 40 years old: 6.3%. In the women older than 60 years the labium tertium was rarer: 3.1%. The labium tertium was 4.9 cm long in the average. Besides these 5.3% of females with a clear third labium we found in 15.8% of all our investigated females a smaller, shorter labium tertium, in the average 2.6 cm long. In the patients with a clearly developed labium tertium we saw it in about half of all our patients bilateral, in the other half only on one side, on the right side more often than on the left side. In the less clearly developed labia tertia we found these in about a third of all the patients (29.9%) bilateral, in the other patients it was developed about as often on the right as on the left side. Macroscopically the labium tertium as to its appearance and structure is the same as the labium minus. It evolves from the labium minus in most of all cases laterally. The possible reasons for the fact are discussed that this third labium which is easy to see, was not described before!