Facial Artery: Anatomy, Branches And Clinical Points
Write a short note on the facial artery.
Answer.
Origin and extent
It arises from the anterior aspect of the external carotid artery in the carotid triangle of the neck, just below the level of the tip of the greater cornu of the hyoid bone.
It extends from its site of origin in the neck to the medial angle of the eye in the face, where it terminates by anastomosing with the dorsal nasal artery, a branch of the ophthalmic artery.
Branches
In the neck
- Ascending palatine artery
- Glandular branches to the submandibular gland
- Tonsillar artery
- Submental artery
In the face
- Superior labial artery
- Inferior labial artery
- Lateral nasal branch
- Unnamed muscular branches
Applied anatomy
The pulsations of the facial artery can be felt:
- On the base of the mandible, at the anteroinferior angle of the masseter
- 1.25 cm lateral to the angle of mouth, just lateral to modiolus with index finger put in the oral cavity and thumb placed on the outer aspect of the cheek
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