Inferior labial veins
Venae labiales inferiores
Small veins of the lower lip and chin that carry blood into the facial vein near the corner of the mouth.
At a glance
- English
- Inferior labial veins
- Latin (TA2)
- Venae labiales inferiores
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Head
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the inferior labial veins
The lower lip and the soft tissues just below it are drained by the inferior labial veins. They begin in a fine network in the substance of the lip, among the fibres of orbicularis oris and the small mucous glands on its inner surface, and they run outwards and downwards towards the angle of the mouth. There they open into the facial vein as it passes down across the jaw.
They follow the inferior labial artery, a branch of the facial artery that runs in the lower lip between the muscle and the mucous membrane. There is often more than one vein on each side, which is why they are named in the plural. Small branches communicate across the midline with the veins of the other side, and below they connect with the mental and submental veins draining the chin.
Once in the facial vein, their blood usually passes into the common facial vein and then into the internal jugular vein in the neck. In that respect the lower lip drains mainly away from the skull, unlike the upper lip, whose superior labial vein joins the facial vein closer to the angular vein and its routes into the orbit.
The veins are of practical interest in surgery and injury of the lips. Lip wounds bleed freely because the labial vessels lie close to the moist red margin, and the bleeding can usually be stopped by pinching the lip on each side of the cut. In reconstructive surgery, flaps taken from the lower lip keep their circulation through the labial artery and these companion veins, so the surgeon preserves them at the base of the flap.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Begin in a venous network within the lower lip and adjoining chin.
- Drains into
- Open into the facial vein near the angle of the mouth; the blood passes on through the common facial vein to the internal jugular vein.
- Drains
- Drain the lower lip, its mucous glands and orbicularis oris, and part of the chin.
Anthromica
See the inferior labial veins where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
