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Facial Nerve is a mixed (i.e. motor and sensory) nerve, but mainly it’s motor.
Facial nerve is the 7th cranial nerve. It’s referred to as facial nerve as it supplies
the muscles of facial expression. It’s the most regularly paralyzed of all the
peripheral nerves of the body.
Facial Nerve
General visceral efferent fibres: They supply the secretomotor fibres to lacrimal,
submandibular and sublingual glands. They all are preganglionic parasympathetic
fibres which originate from lacrimatory and superior salivatory nuclei in the
brainstem
Special visceral afferent fibres: They carry unique sensations of flavor from
anterior two-third of the tongue with the exception of vallate papillae and
terminate in the nucleus of tractus solitarius (gustatory nucleus) in the brainstem.
General somatic afferent fibres: They carry general sensations from the skin of
the auricle and terminate in the spinal nucleus of the trigeminal nerve.
The cell bodies of SVA and GVA fibres can be found in the geniculate ganglion.
The two roots originate from the pontomedullary junction lateral to the superior
end of the olive of the medulla. The sensory root is located between the motor root
of facial medially and the vestibulocochlear nerve laterally.
After appearing from the brainstem, the roots of the facial nerve pass laterally
and forwards in the cerebello-pontine angle, alongside the vestibulocochlear and
labyrinthine artery. All these structures subsequently travel into the internal
acoustic meatus. In the meatus, the motor root is lodged in a groove on the
vestibulocochlear nerve, while the sensory root stays independent. At the lateral
end (underside) of the internal acoustic meatus, 2 roots connect to create the trunk
of the facial nerve. (Here it’s essential to notice the backside or fundus of the
internal acoustic meatus creates the medial wall of the bony labyrinth of the
internal ear.) The facial nerve enters the facial canal in the petrous temporal bone
through its opening in the fundus of the internal acoustic meatus.
The facial ducts split into three sections: labyrinthine, tympanic and mastoid.
The labyrinthine segment of the facial canal is located above the vestibule
of bony labyrinth and bends to get to the anterosuperior part of the medial
wall of the middle ear (tympanum) near the processus cochleariformis. Here
the canal bends sharply backwards. The facial nerve coursing via the
labyrinthine section of canal also makes a sudden curve termed the external
genu of the facial nerve which possesses the geniculate ganglion.
The tympanic segment of the facial canal runs horizontally backward in the
medial wall of the middle ear till it reaches the junction of the medial and
posterior wall of the middle ear. The bulge of the tympanic segment of the
facial canal is viewed in the medial wall of the middle ear above the
promontory and fenestra vestibuli and below the bulge created by the lateral
semicircular canal.
The mastoid section starts at the junction of the medial and posterior wall of
the middle ear and enters vertically downward in the posterior wall of the
middle ear till it reaches the stylomastoid foramen at the base of the skull.
The facial nerve comes out of cranial cavity via the stylomastoid foramen.
Nerve to Stapedius
Nerve to stapedius originates from the vertical part of the facial nerve opposite the
pyramidal eminence, runs forwards via a brief canal inside it to get to the
stapedius muscle to supply it.
Chorda Tympani Nerve
Chorda tympani nerve originates from the vertical part of the facial nerve about 6
millimeters above the stylomastoid foramen and enters the middle ear via the
posterior canaliculus (on the posterior wall of the middle ear), runs across its
lateral wall of the middle ear (pars flaccida of the tympanic membrane); passing
between the long process of incus and the handle of malleus and makes the middle
ear by going into the anterior canaliculus (on the anterior wall of the middle ear).
It then traverses via the bony canaliculus and enters the inferotemporal fossa via
the medial end of petrotympanic fissure. After coming from the petrotympanic
fissure, it runs medially forward and downward, crossing the medial aspect of the
spine of sphenoid, to join the posterior aspect of the lingual nerve.
Nerve to Stylohyoid
Terminal Branches
All intranuclear lesions require entire of the face on precisely the same side.
The signs and symptoms of infranuclear lesions differ based on the site of the
lesion: