Frontal nerve

Nerve: Frontal nerve
Dissection showing origins of right ocular muscles, and nerves entering by the superior orbital fissure.
Nerves of the orbit. Seen from above.
Latin	nervus frontalis
Gray's	subject #200 887
From	Ophthalmic nerve
To	supratrochlear nerve and the supraorbital nerve

The frontal nerve is the largest branch of the ophthalmic nerve(V₁), and may be regarded, both from its size and direction, as the continuation of the nerve.

It enters the orbit through the superior orbital fissure, not running within the tendinous ring, and runs forward between the Levator palpebræ superioris and the periosteum.

Midway between the apex and base of the orbit it divides into two branches, supratrochlear nerve and supraorbital nerve.

Functions

It provides the sensory innervations for the skin of the forehead, mucosa of frontal sinus, and the skin of the upper eyelid via General Somatic Afferent (GSA) fibers.

Additional images

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  Nerves of the orbit, and the ciliary ganglion. Side view.

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  Frontal nerve

External links

• SUNY Labs 29:02-0103
• Frontal+nerve at eMedicine Dictionary
• lesson3 at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (orbit2)
• cranialnerves at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (V)

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 As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.