Medial palpebral arteries

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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
Dorlands/Elsevier a_61/12155367

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

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This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.