Levator nasolabialis

At a glance

English

Levator nasolabialis

Latin (TA2)

Levator nasolabialis

System

Muscle

Region

Head

Side

Paired, left and right

About the levator nasolabialis

Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi, also called the levator nasolabialis, takes its long name from its two targets: in Latin it means the raiser of the upper lip and the nasal wing. It is a slender strip of facial muscle lying along the flank of the nose, on the inner edge of the levator labii superioris, and it has often been described as the angular or medial head of that muscle. It was also known in the past as Otto's muscle.

It arises by a pointed end from the top of the maxilla's frontal process, beside the root of the nose and close to the inner corner of the eye. From there it runs down and slightly outwards along the nasal flank and splits into two slips. The medial slip ends in the greater alar cartilage and the skin over the wing of the nostril; the lateral slip passes on into the outer part of the upper lip, where it merges with the levator labii superioris and orbicularis oris.

Through its nasal slip it widens the nostril by lifting and pulling the ala outwards, and through its lip slip it raises and everts the upper lip. Together these give the expression of a snarl or sneer, with a lifted lip, flared nostril and a deepened top of the nasolabial fold; the expression was made famous by a well-known singer, giving the muscle the nickname of the Elvis muscle. Of the lip elevators, it is the one nearest the nose. Students sometimes recall the group with the phrase Little Ladies Snore All Night.

It is supplied by the zygomatic and buccal branches of the facial nerve and receives blood from the angular artery, the end of the facial artery, and from the infraorbital artery. Its action on the nostril helps to keep the nasal airway open during forced breathing, and weakness in facial palsy can contribute to collapse of the nostril on breathing in.

Attachments, action and supply

Origin

Top of the maxilla's frontal process, beside the root of the nose.

Insertion

Greater alar cartilage and skin of the ala of the nose, and the lateral part of the upper lip.

Action

Dilates the nostril and elevates and everts the upper lip, as in snarling.

Nerve supply

Zygomatic and buccal branches of the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII).

Blood supply

Angular artery (end of the facial artery) and infraorbital artery.