Three main arteries of the face and their tortuosity

The anatomy of the facial, transverse facial and infraorbital arteries and their tortuosity was studied in 69 human cadavers (age range 18-95 years). The types of facial vascularisation were divided into four categories according to the gradually diminishing relative dominance of the facial artery. Type A, in which the facial artery was dominant, comprised 22% of the cases; type B 49%; type C 20%; and the variant of the hypoplastic facial artery, type D, 9% of the cases. The type of vascularisation was not dependent on age or sex. The tortuosity of all three arteries showed a statistically significant increase with age. A weak correlation was found between the relative dominance and the tortuosity of the facial artery.