Skin of buttocks

Looks like

Thick skin over the gluteal muscles and a deep pad of fat, meeting in the cleft between them.

What it does

Takes the weight when sitting.

Keeping it well

Sitting or lying still for hours can cut off its blood — the pressure sores of the bedbound start here. A painful lump in the cleft may be a pilonidal cyst.

Related conditions

• Chronic venous insufficiency
• Lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis)
• Lymphoedema
• Polymyalgia rheumatica
• Restless legs syndrome
• Varicose veins