Common facial vein

Vein: Common facial vein
Veins of the head and neck.
Gray's	subject #167 645
Source	facial vein
Drains to	jugular vein

The anterior facial vein usually unites with the posterior facial vein to form the common facial vein, which crosses the external carotid artery and enters the internal jugular vein at a variable point below the hyoid bone.

From near its termination a communicating branch often runs down the anterior border of the Sternocleidomastoideus to join the lower part of the anterior jugular vein.

The common facial vein is not present in all individuals.

External links

• Common+facial+vein at eMedicine Dictionary
• lesson4 at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (parotid2)

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.