The T10 dermatome is a band around the trunk at the level of the umbilicus (belly button), the classic surface landmark for this level. It runs from the back round to the front midline on each side. Its skin is supplied by the tenth intercostal nerve.
| Nerve root | T10 |
|---|---|
| Area | Band around the trunk at the level of the umbilicus |
| How to test | Light touch and pinprick are compared side to side at the ISNCSCI key sensory point: in the midclavicular line at the level of the umbilicus. |
| Nerve Supply | Tenth intercostal nerve (lateral and anterior cutaneous branches); Posterior rami of thoracic spinal nerves |
Carries touch, pain and temperature sensation from this strip of skin to the spinal cord through the T10 dorsal root.
Early appendicitis pain is felt around the umbilicus because the appendix sends visceral pain fibres to the T10 segment. The umbilicus is also the standard check for a T10 sensory level in spinal cord injury and regional anaesthesia. Beevor sign (upward movement of the umbilicus on a sit-up) suggests weakness of the lower abdominal muscles from a lesion around T10. Dermatome maps differ between sources (Foerster, Keegan and Garrett, and modern evidence-based maps disagree), and neighbouring dermatomes overlap, so borders are approximate.
Reactivated varicella zoster virus in the T10 dorsal root ganglion causes a painful band of blistering rash confined to this dermatome, sometimes followed by postherpetic neuralgia.
Visceral pain from the appendix and small intestine is referred to the T10 skin around the umbilicus before it localises.
An injury at T10 leaves sensation intact above the umbilicus and impaired below it, with leg weakness.
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