Nasolabial node
Nodus nasolabialis
A small facial lymph node in the fold between the side of the nose and the upper lip, along the facial vein.
At a glance
- English
- Nasolabial node
- Latin (TA2)
- Nodus nasolabialis
- System
- Lymphatic
- Region
- Head
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the nasolabial node
The nasolabial node is one of the facial lymph nodes, the small and variable nodes strung along the facial vein across the cheek. It lies in or near the nasolabial fold, the crease that runs from the side of the nose to the corner of the mouth, in the fat beneath the skin. Like other facial nodes it is small and inconstant, and in many people it cannot be found.
It lies superficial to the muscles that raise the upper lip and close to the angular part of the facial vein and artery as they pass up beside the nose towards the inner corner of the eye. The buccinator node lies further back and lower on the cheek, and the mandibular node lower still on the jaw, so the three together form a chain running from the nose down to the lower border of the mandible.
Lymph reaching this node comes from the skin of the side of the nose, the upper lip and the inner part of the cheek, and also from the lower eyelid and medial corner of the eye. Its outflow follows the facial vein downwards, through the other facial nodes or directly, to the submandibular nodes beneath the jaw.
The region it drains matters clinically because the area between the nose and the upper lip is a common site for skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma, and for boils and other skin infections. Infection here is also linked to the facial vein, which has connections with the veins of the orbit, so a swollen, tender nasolabial node in the setting of a facial boil warrants attention.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Afferent vessels from the skin of the side of the nose, the upper lip, the inner cheek, the lower eyelid and the medial angle of the eye.
- Drains into
- Efferent vessels follow the facial vein down to the submandibular nodes.
- Drains
- Filters lymph from the central face around the nose and upper lip. It may enlarge with facial boils or skin infection, or hold spread from skin cancers of the nose and lip.
Anthromica
See the nasolabial node 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.
