Facial artery

Looks like

An external carotid branch that winds over the lower edge of the jaw just in front of the chewing muscle, then snakes up past the mouth toward the eye.

What it does

Supplies the face: lips, cheek, side of the nose, and also the tonsil and the gland under the jaw.

Keeping it well

Its pulse can be felt on the jaw edge. It bleeds heavily from facial cuts and is avoided in filler injections, which can block it.

Its parts

• Angular artery
• Inferior labial artery
• Submental artery
• Superior labial artery

Related conditions

• Carotid artery stenosis
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Hypothermia & frostbite
• Kawasaki disease
• Metabolic syndrome
• Orthostatic hypotension & POTS
• Peripheral artery disease
• Phaeochromocytoma & hyperaldosteronism
• Pre-eclampsia
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Sepsis
• Shock (circulatory failure)
• Takayasu arteritis
• Vasculitis (GCA & others)