Left ophthalmic artery

Looks like

A thin artery leaving the internal carotid just inside the skull and running with the optic nerve into the eye socket.

What it does

Supplies the eye, including the retina through its central artery, the eye muscles, tear gland and parts of the forehead and nose.

Keeping it well

A clot in its retinal branch causes sudden painless loss of vision in one eye — an emergency, often a warning of stroke.

Related conditions

• Brain aneurysm
• Carotid artery stenosis
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Hypothermia & frostbite
• Ischaemic stroke
• Kawasaki disease
• Metabolic syndrome
• Orthostatic hypotension & POTS
• Peripheral artery disease
• Phaeochromocytoma & hyperaldosteronism
• Pre-eclampsia
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Retinal artery occlusion (eye stroke)
• Sepsis
• Shock (circulatory failure)
• Takayasu arteritis
• Transient ischaemic attack
• Vasculitis (GCA & others)