Supraorbital artery

Arteria supraorbitalis

Definition

The Supraorbital Artery (a. supraorbitalis) springs from the ophthalmic as that vessel is crossing over the optic nerve. It passes upward on the medial borders of the Rectus superior and Levator palpebræ, and meeting the supraorbital nerve accompanies it between the periosteum and Levator palpebræ to the supraorbital foramen; passing through this it divides into a superficial and a deep branch, which supply the integument, the muscles, and the pericranium of the forehead, anastomosing with the frontal, the frontal branch of the superficial temporal, and the artery of the opposite side. This artery in the orbit supplies the Rectus superior and the Levator palpebræ, and sends a branch across the pulley of the Obliquus superior, to supply the parts at the medial palpebral commissure. At the supraorbital foramen it frequently transmits a branch to the diploë (diploic branch).

References

This definition incorporates text from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy (20th U.S. edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, published in 1918 – from http://www.bartleby.com/107/).

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