Stylomastoid foramen

Stylomastoid foramen
File:Stylomastoid foramen.png Base of skull. Inferior surface. Pink region is temporal bone, and stylomastoid foramen is in black circle at center of pink region.
Left temporal bone. Inferior surface. (Stylomastoid foramen is third label from the bottom on the left.)
Details
Latin	foramen stylomastoideum
Identifiers
Dorlands /Elsevier	f_12/12373728
TA
TH	{{#property:P1694}}
TE	{{#property:P1693}}
FMA	{{#property:P1402}}
Anatomical terms of bone [[[d:|edit on Wikidata]]]

Between the styloid and mastoid processes of the temporal bone is the stylomastoid foramen

It is the termination of the facial canal, and transmits the facial nerve and stylomastoid artery.

Clinical Relevance

Bell's palsy can result from inflammation of the facial nerve where it leaves the skull at the stylomastoid foramen. Patients with Bell's palsy appear with facial drooping on the affected side.

Additional images

• 

  Facial canal

• 

  Lateral head anatomy detail.Facial nerve dissection.

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

• Anatomy figure: 22:4a-07 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center
• Anatomy photo:22:os-0708 at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center
• Anatomy diagram: 34257.000-1 at Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator, Elsevier
• lesson3 at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (midearcavity)
• Diagram at patientsforum.com