Medial palpebral arteries

Artery: Medial palpebral arteries
The ophthalmic artery and its branches. (Medial palpebral labeled at center top.)
Latin	arteriae palpebrales mediales
Gray's	subject #146 570
Supplies	eyelids
Source	ophthalmic artery
Branches	superior palpebral arch inferior palpebral arch

The medial palpebral arteries (internal palpebral arteries) are arteries of the head. They are two in number, superior and inferior, arise from the ophthalmic, opposite the pulley of the Obliquus superior.

Course

They leave the orbit to encircle the eyelids near their free margins, forming a superior and an inferior arch, which lie between the Orbicularis oculi and the tarsi.

The superior palpebral arch anastomoses, at the lateral angle of the orbit, with the zygomaticoörbital branch of the temporal artery and with the upper of the two lateral palpebral branches from the lacrimal artery.

The inferior palpebral arch anastomoses, at the lateral angle of the orbit, with the lower of the two lateral palpebral branches from the lacrimal and with the transverse facial artery, and, at the medial part of the lid, with a branch from the angular artery.

From this last anastomoses a branch passes to the nasolacrimal duct, ramifying in its mucous membrane, as far as the inferior meatus of the nasal cavity.

Additional images

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  Bloodvessels of the eyelids, front view.

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 As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.