Nerve · Head

Zygomaticofacial nerve

Nervus zygomaticofacialis

A short sensory nerve supplying the skin over the cheekbone. It is one of two terminal branches of the zygomatic nerve, which itself leaves the maxillary division inside the eye socket; from the lateral orbital wall it burrows into a canal within the zygomatic bone and emerges on the face at the zygomaticofacial foramen on the prominence of the cheek, piercing orbicularis oculi to reach the skin. Its territory is small — roughly the patch a blusher brush covers. Note the name trap: the zygomatic BRANCH of the facial nerve is a different nerve entirely, motor rather than sensory, and it drives the muscle that closes the eye.