The arteries of the face and scalp.
|- style="text-align: center;" class="hiddenStructure"
| colspan="2" |
|- style="text-align: center; line-height: 1;" class="hiddenStructure"
| colspan="2" |Outline of side of face, showing chief surface markings. (Label for "Ext. Max. Art." at bottom left.)
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Latin
|colspan="2"|a. maxillaris externa
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|
|colspan="2"|[subject #144 ]
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Supplies
|colspan="2"|
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|From
|colspan="2"|external carotid artery
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|To
|colspan="2"|
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Vein
|colspan="2"|
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|MeSH
|colspan="2"|[]
|- class="hiddenStructure"
|Dorlands/Elsevier
|colspan="2"|[/]
|}
The facial artery (external maxillary artery), arises in the carotid triangle from the external carotid a little above the lingual artery and, sheltered by the ramus of the mandible, passes obliquely up beneath the Digastric and stylohyoid muscles, over which it arches to enter a groove on the posterior surface of the submandibluar gland.
It then curves upward over the body of the mandible at the antero-inferior angle of the Masseter; passes forward and upward across the cheek to the angle of the mouth, then ascends along the side of the nose, and ends at the medial commissure of the eye, under the name of the angular artery.
This vessel, both in the neck and on the face, is remarkably tortuous: in the former situation, to accommodate itself to the movements of the pharynx in deglutition; and in the latter, to the movements of the mandible, lips, and cheeks.
It lies upon the Constrictores pharyngis medius and superior, the latter of which separates it, at the summit of its arch, from the lower and back part of the tonsil.
On the face, where it passes over the body of the mandible, it is comparatively superficial, lying immediately beneath the dilators of the mouth. In its course over the face, it is covered by the integument, the fat of the cheek, and, near the angle of the mouth, by the Platysma, Risorius, and Zygomaticus. It rests on the Buccinator and levator anguli oris, and passes either over or under the infraorbital head of the levator labii superioris.
The anterior facial vein lies lateral to the artery, and takes a more direct course across the face, where it is separated from the artery by a considerable interval. In the neck it lies superficial to the artery.
The branches of the facial nerve cross the artery from behind forward.
