Lacrimal nerve at a glance
- What it is
- The lacrimal nerve is the smallest branch of the ophthalmic nerve and supplies the lacrimal gland and adjacent skin and conjunctiva.
- Location
- It enters the orbit through the superior orbital fissure and runs along the upper border of the lateral rectus toward the lacrimal gland.
- Function
- It is sensory to the lacrimal gland, conjunctiva and the lateral part of the upper eyelid. It also carries parasympathetic secretomotor fibres to the gland.
- Body system
- Nervous · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA52630 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Branch of CN V1.
- Secretomotor fibres come from the facial nerve via the pterygopalatine ganglion and are classically said to reach it through the zygomatic nerve; the exact route varies.
Structures next to the lacrimal nerve
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Levator palpebrae superioris · muscular
- Superior rectus · muscular
- Superior oblique · muscular
- Lateral rectus · muscular
- Superior branch of oculomotor nerve · nervous
- Ciliary ganglion · nervous
- Long ciliary nerve · nervous
- Frontal nerve · nervous
- Communicating branch of nasociliary nerve with ciliary ganglion · nervous
- Inferior branch of oculomotor nerve · nervous
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Lacrimal nerve (FMA52630). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §12.1 Basic Structure and Function of the Nervous System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.