SURGICAL ANATOMY OF THE FACE. 23 



The skin of the face is remarkably thin, freely sup- 

 plied with vessels, nerves, and follicles. The subcuta- 

 neous cellular tissue is dense, and contains (except on 

 the eyelids) a good deal of fat. A description of the at- 

 tachments, relations, and uses of the muscles of the face 

 win be found in works on general or artistic anatomy. 



Arteries. The chief arterial supply of the face is de- 

 rived from the external carotid, its facial, internal max- 

 illary, and transverse facial branches, and from the 

 ophthalmic branches of the internal carotid. Their 

 inosculation is remarkably free. The normal course of 

 the facial artery, when it appears on the face, is just an- 

 terior to the masseter muscle, where it is subcutaneous, 

 and here only is it in actual relation with the accom- 

 panying facial vein, which is almost straight, and lies to 

 its outer side. The vessel ascends from this point tor- 

 tuously, more particularly so in old persons, towards the 

 corner of the mouth, side of the nose, and inner angle of 

 orbit, where it inosculates with the ophthalmic. The 

 artery lies at first under the platysma, and further on in 

 its course is covered by some thin fibres of the zygomat- 

 icus major. The chief named branches are the inferior 

 labial, running between the lower lip and the chin, and 

 distributed to its integument ; the coronary, superior 

 and inferior, distributed to each lip and to the septum of 

 the nose; the lateral nasal, to the side of the nose; and 

 the angular, a large branch going to the inner angle of 

 the orbit, generally seen pulsationg under the skin. The 

 transverse facial artery is a branch generally of the tem- 

 poral, lying by the side of the duct of the parotid gland 

 (Steno's), accompanied by branches of the facial nerve. 

 Those branches which the internal carotid supplies to 

 the face are the terminal ones of the ophthalmic namely, 



