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Nasociliary nerve: anatomy, location and function

The nasociliary nerve is a branch of the ophthalmic nerve that supplies the eyeball, nasal cavity and parts of the face. It is sensory to the cornea, iris, ethmoidal air cells, nasal cavity and skin of the nose.

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Highlighted in the model: Nasociliary nerve. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Nasociliary nerve at a glance

What it is
The nasociliary nerve is a branch of the ophthalmic nerve that supplies the eyeball, nasal cavity and parts of the face.
Location
It enters the orbit through the common tendinous ring, crosses over the optic nerve, and runs along the medial wall of the orbit.
Function
It is sensory to the cornea, iris, ethmoidal air cells, nasal cavity and skin of the nose.
Body system
Nervous · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA52670 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Branch of CN V1.
  • Branches: communicating branch to ciliary ganglion, long ciliary, posterior and anterior ethmoidal, and infratrochlear nerves.

Structures next to the nasociliary nerve

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Nasociliary nerve (FMA52670). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §12.1 Basic Structure and Function of the Nervous System. Rice University, 2022.
  3. 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.