Morphometric Analysis of the Facial Artery in Perioral Region

Yu, Sun Kyoung; Lee, Kwang Young; Lee, Myoung Hwa; Jeon, Yong Hyun; Kang, Hansoo; Lee, Chul Kwon; Kim, Heung Joong

Abstract

The facial artery is the largest and main arterial supply of the face, and the inferior and superior labial arteries supply blood to the lower and upper lips and intersect on the opposite site. The aim of this study was to provide quantitative data on the course of facial artery and the distribution of inferior and superior labial artery in perioral region. The location, distance, course, and diameter of the facial artery, inferior labial artery, and superior labial artery were measured directly on 50 hemifacial cadavers of Koreans and statistically analyzed using oneway ANOVA. The facial artery was located 18.50 mm lateral to the mouth corners (Cheilions). The inferior labial artery at its origin was located 15.11 mm inferior and 19.63 mm lateral to the Cheilions. The superior labial artery at its origin was located 5.83 mm superior and 11.28 mm lateral to the Cheilions. The diameter of facial artery, inferior labial artery, and superior labial artery was 2.19, 1.56, and 1.48 mm, respectively. The courses of the facial artery and it's branches showed no significant differences on laterality except for the diameter of the superior labial artery (p=0.026). The buccal branch of facial artery was showed in 44% of the cases in the deep layer of perioral region. In conclusion, this study provides that the data will be useful in predicting the courses of the facial artery and helpful for reconstructive surgery in perioral region.