Dissection Summary

Part 1 - Features of the Nose 

• • Examine the external features of the nose, and appreciate the relationship between the nose and the upper lip.

Part 2 - Skinning 

• • Remove the remainder of the skin from the face

    • • Do not skin the nose or ears

      • Skin near the eyes, but do not skin the (palpebral parts of the orbicularis oculi m.) eyelids

  • Locate facial n. brs. and the parotid duct

  • Determine a dissection plan for each side of the face: 

    • • superficial dissection (which will retain the facial n. branches, and include facial mm.)

      • deep dissection (which will include facial mm. and cutaneous nn.)

Part 3 - Facial Nerve 

• • Trace and clean the facial n. branches to their distal connections 

  • Try to preserve any connections among these branches, especially in the vicinity of the buccal brs. 

  • As you work medially from the parotid, locate the parotid (Stensen’s) duct, and clean the duct to its course through the buccinator m. 

Part 4 - Facial Muscles

• • Clean any remaining fibro-adipose tissue from the SMAS to reveal the craniofacial and epicranial muscles

  • Skin the entirety of the nose, and locate the nasal muscles

Part 5 - Associated Foramina and Content

• • Using blunt dissection with minimal disruption of the surrounding tissue, locate the:  

    • • supra-orbital foramen (or notch)

      • infra-orbital foramen

      • mental foramen

      • Find and identify the nerves they transmit

  • Locate the cutaneous portion of the auriculotemporal n.

Part 6 - Facial Artery and Vein

• • On the side of face with the parotid gland removed, locate the retromandibular v. and its superior tributary, the superficial temporal v. 

  • Follow the retromandibular v. to its potential junctions with the facial v. (into the internal jugular v.) and the posterior auricular v. (to form the external jugular v.).

  • Locate the facial a. and v. 

    • • Locate the major branches of the facial a. 

      • Locate major branches of the facial v.