Facial Artery

The structure indicated is the facial artery.

The facial artery is a branch of the external carotid artery. The external carotid artery gives rise to 8 branches:

• Superior thyroid artery
• Ascending pharyngeal artery
• Lingual artery
• Facial artery
• Occipital artery
• Posterior auricular artery
• Maxillary artery
• Superficial temporal artery

The maxillary artery and the superficial temporal artery are terminal branches of the external carotid artery, with the latter being the smaller of the two branches.

The facial artery provides the major arterial supply to the face, terminating as the angular artery medially at the corner of the eye. It consists of both cervical and facial branches.

Cervical branches:

• Ascending palatine artery
• Tonsillar branch
• Submental artery
• Glandular branches

Facial branches:

• Inferior labial artery
• Superior labial artery
• Lateral nasal branch to naslis muscle
• Angular artery

Learn more about the branches of the external carotid artery in this anatomy tutorial.