Retromandibular vein

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Vein: Posterior facial vein

Veins of the head and neck. (Post. facial visible at center.)

Dissection, showing salivary glands of right side. (Post. facial vein visible at bottom center.)
Latin	vena retromandibularis, vena facialis posterior
Gray's	subject #167 646
Drains to	external jugular vein
Artery	facial artery
Dorlands/Elsevier	v_05/12851638

The retromandibular vein (temporomaxillary vein, posterior facial vein), formed by the union of the superficial temporal and internal maxillary veins, descends in the substance of the parotid gland, superficial to the external carotid artery but beneath the facial nerve, between the ramus of the mandible and the Sternocleidomastoideus muscle.

It divides into two branches:

an anterior, which passes forward and unites with the anterior facial vein to form the common facial vein.
a posterior, which is joined by the posterior auricular vein and becomes the external jugular vein.

[edit] External links

SUNY Labs 27:13-0103 - "Infratemporal fossa: The Pterygoid plexus of Veins"
Norman/Georgetown lesson4 (parotid2)
Dictionary at eMedicine retromandibular+vein
Tufts.edu

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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.

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Veins of head and neck