Muscle · Head

Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi

Musculus levator labii superioris alaeque nasi

The muscle with the longest name in the body, and the name is a full description: it lifts the upper lip and the wing of the nose. It runs from the upper part of the bony bridge beside the nose straight down and divides into two slips — one into the nostril wing, one into the upper lip. Because it pulls on both at once it produces the one-sided lift of lip and nostril that reads as a sneer, and it is the muscle that flares the nostril in a hard smile. It sits alongside the other two lip lifters but is the only one that also reaches the nose.