Facial artery
Updates to Article Attributes
Body
was changed:
The facial artery is one of the branches of the external carotid artery and supplies blood to the structures of the face.
Summary
- origin: branch of the external carotid artery a little above the level of the lingual artery, in the carotid triangle of the neck
- course: passes deep to the posterior belly of the digastric muscle, the stylohyoid muscle and the submandibular gland; it then continues its tortuous course over the inferior border of the mandible towards the nasolabial fold
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branches
- cervical
- ascending palatine artery
- tonsillar branch
- submental artery
- glandular branches
- facial
- inferior labial artery
- superior labial artery
- lateral nasal branch
- cervical
- termination: anterior face as angular artery (terminal branch) at the medial canthus
Variant anatomy
The facial artery may arise from a common trunk with the lingual artery, the linguofacial trunk.
History and etymology
The facial artery was previously known as the external maxillary artery, e.g. old editions of Gray's anatomy 1. This was in contradistinction to the internal maxillary artery which is now known simply as the maxillary artery.
-<strong>origin:</strong> branch of the <a href="/articles/external-carotid-artery-eca">external carotid artery</a> a little above the level of the <a href="/articles/lingual-artery">lingual artery</a>, in the <a title="Carotid triangle" href="/articles/carotid-triangle">carotid triangle</a> of the neck</li>- +<strong>origin:</strong> branch of the <a href="/articles/external-carotid-artery-eca">external carotid artery</a> a little above the level of the <a href="/articles/lingual-artery">lingual artery</a>, in the <a href="/articles/carotid-triangle">carotid triangle</a> of the neck</li>
-<strong>course:</strong> passes deep to the posterior belly of the <a title="Digastric muscle" href="/articles/digastric-muscle">digastric muscle</a>, the <a title="Stylohyoid muscle" href="/articles/stylohyoid-muscle">stylohyoid muscle</a> and the <a title="Submandibular gland" href="/articles/submandibular-gland">submandibular gland</a>; it then continues its tortuous course over the inferior border of the mandible towards the nasolabial fold</li>- +<strong>course:</strong> passes deep to the posterior belly of the <a href="/articles/digastric-muscle">digastric muscle</a>, the <a href="/articles/stylohyoid-muscle">stylohyoid muscle</a> and the <a href="/articles/submandibular-gland">submandibular gland</a>; it then continues its tortuous course over the inferior border of the <a href="/articles/mandible">mandible</a> towards the nasolabial fold</li>
-<li>inferior labial artery</li>-<li>superior labial artery</li>- +<li><a title="Inferior labial artery" href="/articles/inferior-labial-artery">inferior labial artery</a></li>
- +<li><a title="Superior labial artery" href="/articles/superior-labial-artery">superior labial artery</a></li>
-<strong>termination:</strong> anterior face as angular artery (terminal branch)</li>- +<strong>termination:</strong> anterior face as <a href="/articles/angular-artery">angular artery</a> (terminal branch) at the medial canthus</li>
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