Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh

Nerve: Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh
Plan of lumbar plexus. (Lateral femoral cutaneous visible at left.)
Cutaneous nerves of the right lower extremity. Front and posterior views.
Latin	nervus cutaneus femoris lateralis
Gray's	subject #212 953
Innervates	Skin on the lateral part of the thigh
From	lumbar plexus (L2–L3)

The lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh (also called the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve) is a cutaneous nerve that innervates the skin on the lateral part of the thigh.

Structure

The lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh is a nerve of the lumbar plexus. It arises from the dorsal divisions of the second and third lumbar nerves. It emerges from the lateral border of the psoas major at about its middle, and crosses the iliacus muscle obliquely, toward the anterior superior iliac spine. It then passes under the inguinal ligament and over the sartorius muscle into the thigh, where it divides into an anterior and a posterior branch.

The anterior branch becomes superficial about 10 cm below the inguinal ligament, and divides into branches which are distributed to the skin of the anterior and lateral parts of the thigh, as far as the knee. The terminal filaments of this nerve frequently communicate with the anterior cutaneous branches of the femoral nerve, and with the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve, forming with them the peripatellar plexus.

The posterior branch pierces the fascia lata, and subdivides into filaments which pass backward across the lateral and posterior surfaces of the thigh, supplying the skin from the level of the greater trochanter to the middle of the thigh.

Additional images

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  Lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh and other structures passing behind the inguinal ligament

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  The great saphenous vein and its tributaries at the fossa ovalis.

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  The lumbar plexus and its branches.

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  Deep and superficial dissection of the lumbar plexus.

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  Diagram of segmental distribution of the lateral cutaneous nerve (shaded) and other nerves of the right leg. Front view.

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  Cutaneous nerves of the right lower extremity. Front and posterior views.

See also

• cutaneous nerve
• Posterior cutaneous nerve of thigh
• Meralgia paraesthetica

External links

• Duke Orthopedics lateral_femoral_cutaneous_nerve
• Lateral+cutaneous+nerve+of+thigh at eMedicine Dictionary
• SUNY Labs 40:17-0201 - "Posterior Abdominal Wall: Nerves of the Lumbar Plexus"
• Anatomy at MUN nerve/lumbnerv
• posteriorabdomen at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (posteriorabdmus&nerves)

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.