Cutaneous innervation of the lower limbs

Updated on Oct 07, 2024

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Cutaneous innervation refers to the area of the skin which is supplied by a specific nerve.

Modern texts are in agreement about which areas of the skin are served by which nerves, but there are minor variations in some of the details. The borders designated by the diagrams in the 1918 edition of Gray's Anatomy, provided below, are similar but not identical to those generally accepted today.

Pelvis and buttocks

Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh - labeled as "lateral femoral cutaneous" (pink)

Lumboinguinal nerve (green) and Ilioinguinal nerve (purple). In modern texts, these two regions are often considered to be innervated by the genitofemoral nerve.

Medial cluneal nerves (pink) - labeled as "post. division of sacral"

Inferior cluneal nerves (pink region, not designated with its own section)

Perforating cutaneous nerve (pink region, not designated with its own section)

Superior cluneal nerves (yellow) - labeled as "post. division of lumbar"

Iliohypogastric nerve (blue)

Subcostal nerve (purple) - labeled as "last thoracic"