Supraorbital foramen

Supraorbital foramen
The skull from the front. ("Supraorbital foramen" is top caption for right side white-box.)
Frontal bone. Outer surface. ("Supraorbital notch or foramen" labeled at lower right arch.)
Details
Identifiers
Latin	foramen supraorbitale
MeSH	[//www.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/mesh/2007/MB_cgi?mode=&term=   ]
TA	A02.1.03.009
FMA	57412
Anatomical terms of bone [edit on Wikidata]

The supraorbital foramen is a bony elongated path located above the orbit (eye socket) and under the forehead. The supraorbital foramen lies directly under the eyebrow.

Structure

The supraorbital foramen arches transversely below the superciliary arches and is the upper part of the margin of the orbit, thin and prominent in its lateral two-thirds, rounded in its medial third, and presenting, at the junction of these two portions, the supraorbital notch or foramen for the supraorbital nerve and vessels (supraorbital artery and supraorbital vein.)

Variation

The Supraorbital notch is a small groove at superior and medial margin of the orbit in the frontal bone. The supraorbital nerve passes through this notch prior to dividing into superficial and deep components that provide sensory innervation to the ipsilateral forehead. The supraorbital nerve is a branch of the frontal nerve arising from the ophthalmic division of the trigeminal nerve (cranial nerve V).^[1] The foramen sits on the inmost, lower margin of a grove splitting the supraorbital ridge into a central and two distal sections.^[2]

In vivo, it is often covered with connective tissue to form a supraorbital foramen.

Additional images

• 
  Frontal bone. Inner surface.
• 
  Side view of head, showing surface relations of bones.
• 
  Cranium.Supraorbital foramen.

See also

• Foramina of skull
• Frontal bone
• Supraorbital ridge

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

1. Knize, David M. (1995). "A study of the supraorbital nerve". Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 96 (3): 564–9. doi:10.1097/00006534-199509000-00007. PMID 7638280.
2. Forehead Anatomy at eMedicine

External links

• Anatomy figure: 22:02-01 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center (from a distance)
• Anatomy photo:29:os-0504 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center (close up)
• Anatomy diagram: 34256.000-1 at Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator, Elsevier
• Diagram at upstate.edu
• Diagram at csuchico.edu