Cranial nerve · one in each half of the brain
Facial nerve (VII)
Also called Cranial nerve VII, CN VII, Seventh nerve
The nerve behind every smile, frown, and wink, and it carries taste from your tongue.
The facial nerve moves all the muscles of facial expression, so it is behind every smile, frown, raised eyebrow, and wink. It also carries taste from the front two-thirds of your tongue, and it tells your glands to make tears and saliva. It squeezes through a narrow, winding tunnel in the skull before fanning out across the face.
Where it is
It leaves the brainstem where the pons meets the medulla, winds through a thin tunnel in the bone next to the inner ear, exits the skull just below the ear, and spreads across the face through the big saliva gland in your cheek.
What it does
Facial expressions
It moves all the small muscles of expression, letting you smile, frown, whistle, and squeeze your eyes shut.
Taste
It carries taste from the front two-thirds of your tongue to the brain.
Tears and saliva
It switches on your tear glands and two of the three main pairs of saliva glands.
Ear protection
It tightens the stapedius, a tiny muscle that dampens very loud sounds inside your ear.
Think of it as a puppeteer's strings: one bundle that splits into five branches to pull every muscle that shapes your expressions.
Works with
- PonsIts control center for face muscles sits in the lower pons.
- Primary motor cortexThe motor cortex sends the commands for deliberate expressions. The forehead gets commands from both sides of the brain, the lower face mostly from the opposite side.
- Trigeminal nerve (V)In the blink reflex, the trigeminal feels a touch on the eye and the facial nerve closes the lids.
- Vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII)The two travel side by side through the same small opening in the skull toward the ear.
- Glossopharyngeal nerve (IX)The facial nerve covers taste at the front of the tongue and nerve IX covers the back, so together they map the whole tongue.
- InsulaTaste signals end up in taste cortex in and near the insula.
When it goes wrong
How doctors check it
"Raise your eyebrows, squeeze your eyes shut, show me your teeth, puff out your cheeks." The doctor looks for one side lagging behind.
Bell's palsy
A sudden weakness of one whole side of the face, forehead included. It is thought to happen when the nerve swells inside its tight bony tunnel, often linked to a virus. Most people recover fully, usually within a few weeks to six months.
Stroke or Bell's palsy?
In a stroke, the forehead is usually spared, because each side of the forehead gets signals from both sides of the brain. In Bell's palsy, the whole side is weak. Any sudden face droop still needs urgent medical care.
For learning only, not medical advice. If you have a health concern, talk to a doctor.
Surprising facts
- When the facial nerve is weak, loud sounds can become uncomfortable or even painful, because the tiny muscle that dampens loud noises in the ear stops working.
By the numbers
Where the name comes from
From the Latin facies, "face".
Learn it in a lesson
- The brainstem and cranial nervesLife support and the nerves of the head. A short guided lesson in 3D.
Quick quiz
3 questions. Your answers are saved and come back in your daily review.
Which of these is a job of the facial nerve (VII)?
Show the answer
Facial expressions. It moves all the small muscles of expression, letting you smile, frown, whistle, and squeeze your eyes shut.
Facial expressions. It moves all the small muscles of expression, letting you smile, frown, whistle, and squeeze your eyes shut.
The facial nerve (VII) is part of which larger structure?
Show the answer
Cranial nerves. It belongs to the cranial nerves.
Cranial nerves. It belongs to the cranial nerves.
Which part fits this description? "Like a puppeteer's strings: one bundle that splits into five branches to pull every muscle that shapes your expressions."
Show the answer
Facial nerve (VII). It is the facial nerve (VII). The nerve behind every smile, frown, and wink, and it carries taste from your tongue.
Facial nerve (VII). It is the facial nerve (VII). The nerve behind every smile, frown, and wink, and it carries taste from your tongue.
These parts now come back in your daily review, just before you would forget them.
Practice it and its neighbors in 3DSources
- Facial Nerve Anatomy and Clinical Applications, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
- Bell Palsy, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf
- Bell's Palsy, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
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Explore the facial nerve (VII) in 3D
Turn it around, zoom inside and see how it connects to the rest of the brain, then test yourself with quick quizzes.
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