Understanding Anatomy

Nerves

Nerves are like wires that run through your whole body. They carry messages between your brain and the rest of your body. Some nerves help you feel things like touch (sensory nerves), others help your body move (motor nerves), and many do both.

What happens when a nerve gets damaged?

Nerves can be damaged by infection, trauma, or in other ways. If the pathway between the nerve and muscle is damaged and not restored, the muscle can shrink and become scarred (atrophy or fibrosis). In some cases, injured nerves can fix themselves by regrowing (nerve regeneration) but they are slow.

Image of a ruler highlighting how small 1mm is.

Can nerves heal?

If the injury is far from the muscles, the nerve can take a long time to regrow. Nerves grow approximately 1mm per day, but factors like age and health can impact how effectively they regrow. Without a nerve connection, muscles will gradually shrink (atrophy). If there is no nerve to muscle connection within 12-18 months, muscles can permanently lose their ability to work.

This means that when you have an injured nerve, it may be helpful to meet with a specialist sooner rather than later to discuss whether there are strategies to help the nerve heal, keeping in mind this is not always possible.

Facial Nerve

We use facial expressions every day to show how we feel. Without speaking, our faces can show if we are happy, sad, angry or surprised. These expressions help us communicate with all the people around us. The facial nerve is responsible for controlling facial expressions by moving the muscles in your face.

The facial nerve is known as cranial nerve 7 (CN VII), and has sensory, motor, special sensory, and parasympathetic functions. You have two facial nerves, one on each side of your face and they work together.

Sensory Function

The sensory part of the facial nerve helps you feel a little around your outer ear (concha) and in your ear canal.

Motor Function

The motor part of the facial nerve helps you make facial expressions.

Special Sensory Function

The special sensory part of the facial nerve lets you taste with the front ⅔ of your tongue.

Parasympathetic Function

The parasympathetic part of the facial nerve helps create mucous, saliva and tears.

The facial nerve has 5 main branches that help you move the muscles in your face, so you can smile, frown, blink, and much more. Everyones facial nerve branches uniquely like a finger print but the general organization stays the same. There are often interconnections between these branches making it a very complicated network of tiny nerves.

Explore the facial nerve branches

Tutorial

Explore by clicking different tabs to learn more about facial paralysis.

Image of four people with the temporal branch of the facial nerve highlighted.

Image of four people the zygomatic branch of the facial nerve highlighted.

Image of a four people with the buccal branch of the facial nerve highlighted.

Image of four people with the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve highlighted.

Image of four people with the cervical branch of the facial nerve highlighted.

Note

This set of images is best viewed on desktop.

Facial Muscles

The muscles of facial expression are controlled by the facial nerve and work together so you can show a wide range of emotions with your face. The muscles are innervated by the branch of the facial nerve in that same region. Since everyone has small variations in their branching patterns, it takes time to learn the specific anatomy for each individual.

Explore the layers of the face

Image of a man with the muscles of facial expression showing.

Image of a man with the facial nerve showing.

Image of a man with facial nerve showing and the regions they innervate colour coded to match.

Download the Understanding the Facial Nerve Poster

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Experts You Can Trust

Medically Reviewed. Last updated on 05/09/2026.

3D4Medical Ltd. (2025). Complete anatomy [Mobile App]. App Store.
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Augur, A. M., & Dalley, A. F. (2019). Chapter 8: Head. Moore’s Essential Clinical Anatomy (6th edition, pp 521-524). Wolters Kluwer. ISBN 9781496369659. Accessed May 2, 2026.
Cleveland Clinic. (2024, July 22). Facial Nerve (CN VII): What It Is, Function & Anatomy. Accessed May 2, 2026.
Cleveland Clinic. (2022, March 22). Nerves. Accessed May 2, 2026. Accessed May 2, 2026.
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Jones, O. (n.d.). The Muscles of Facial Expression. Teach Me Anatomy. Accessed May 2, 2026.
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Loukopoulou, C. (2023). Facial nerve (cranial nerve VII). KenHub. Accessed May 2, 2026.
Rohen, J. W., Yokochi, C., & Lutjen-Drecoll, E. (2011). Chapter 2: Head and Neck. Colour Atlas of Anatomy (7th edition, pp 58-60). Wolters Kluwer. ISBN 9781582558561. Accessed May 2, 2026.
Seneviratne, S. O., & Patel, B. C. (2023, May 23). Facial nerve anatomy and clinical applications. National Library of Medicine (NIH). Accessed May 2, 2026.
Uren, A. (2023). Clinical case: Malignancy along facial nerve. KenHub. Accessed May 2, 2026.