NCBI Bookshelf. Sinali O. Seneviratne ; Bhupendra C. Authors Sinali O.

Branchial motor innervation to muscles of facial expression including orbicularis oculi, orbicularis oris, zygomaticus major, levator anguli oris, risorius, depressor anguli oris, mentalis, buccinator, frontalis, occipitalis, corrugator supercilii, and platysma , stapedius, stylohyoid, and posterior belly of digastric. Visceral motor parasympathetic innervation to lacrimal gland via greater superficial petrosal nerve; GSPN , oral and nasal mucosa via GSPN , and submandibular and sublingual glands via chorda tympani. Somatic sensory from external auditory meatus, auricle and retroauricular area.

The facial nerve is one of the key cranial nerves with a complex and broad range of functions. Although at first glance it is the motor nerve of facial expression which begins as a trunk and emerges from the parotid gland as five branches see facial nerve branches mnemonic , it has taste and parasympathetic fibers that relay in a complex manner. The facial nerve is the only cranial nerve that may show normal post-contrast enhancement, although this applies only to the labyrinthine segment up to the stylomastoid foramen.