Levator palpebrae superioris at a glance
- What it is
- The muscle that lifts the upper eyelid.
- Location
- Origin: lesser wing of the sphenoid above the optic canal. Insertion: skin of the upper eyelid and superior tarsus.
- Function
- Elevates the upper eyelid.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA49049 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: oculomotor nerve (CN III); the superior tarsal (Müller) muscle part is sympathetic
- It lies just above superior rectus and shares fascial links with it, so the upper lid rises when the eye looks up.
- Blood supply: muscular branches of the ophthalmic artery
Clinical relevance
Oculomotor nerve damage or Horner syndrome produces ptosis (drooping eyelid).
Structures next to the levator palpebrae superioris
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Superior oblique · muscular
- Superior rectus · muscular
- Lacrimal nerve · nervous
- Long ciliary nerve · nervous
- Lateral rectus · muscular
- Superior branch of oculomotor nerve · nervous
- Ciliary ganglion · nervous
- Optic part of retina · eye & ear
- Medial rectus · muscular
- Frontal nerve · nervous
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Levator palpebrae superioris (FMA49049). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. 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.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.