Unusual posterior ( premasseteric ) branch of facial artery – a case report

Facial artery is the principal artery of the face. It is a branch of external carotid artery, given off in the carotid triangle of the neck. It runs upwards and forwards in the submandibular region winding around the superficial part of the submandibular gland and the base of the mandible. It enters the face after piercing the investing layer of deep cervical facia. On the face, the artery has a tortuous course to prevent it from getting pulled during the movements of mandible. The artery gives large named braches called inferior labial, superior labial and lateral nasal branches in the face. It ends by anastomosing with the dorsal nasal branch of ophthalmic artery. It gives only a few small unnamed braches posteriorly. We saw a large posterior branch of facial artery in the face. We discuss the clinical importance of the same in this paper.