Nerve · Head

Lacrimal nerve

Nervus lacrimalis

The smallest of the three branches of the ophthalmic nerve. It runs along the upper outer corner of the eye socket, above the muscle that pulls the eye outward, to reach the lacrimal gland and the skin of the outer part of the upper eyelid. On its own it is purely sensory: it reports feeling from the gland and the lid but does not make tears. What makes it worth knowing is the hand-off — a small communicating branch from the zygomaticotemporal nerve joins it partway along, carrying the fibres that actually drive tear secretion. The fibres that produce your tears therefore finish their journey riding on a nerve that has no part in producing them.