Superior orbital fissure

The inferior surface of small wings of sphenoid forms the back part of the roof of the orbit, and the upper boundary of the superior orbital fissure.

This fissure is of a triangular form, and leads from the cavity of the cranium into that of the orbit.

It is bounded:

• medially by the bodyof sphenoid;
• above, by the small wing of sphenoid;
• below, by the medial margin of the orbital surface of the great wing; and is completed laterraly by the frontal bone.

It transmits the oculomotor, trochlear, and abducent nerves, the three branches of the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve, some filaments from the cavernous plexus of the sympathetic, the orbital branch of the middle meningeal artery, a recurrent branch from the lacrimal artery to the dura mater, and the ophthalmic vein.