Surgical Anatomy of the Facial Nerve Outside the Skull

THE EXTRATEMPORAL portion of the facial nerve has not received the attention it deserves from the average otologist. This phase of neuroanatomy has been left, for the most part, to the plastic surgeon, the neurosurgeon, and even the general surgeon.* Actually, is not the well-trained otologist as well equipped with the entire course of the facial nerve, both within the temporal bone and in the soft tissues of the face and neck ? Perhaps there is a reason for the increasing tendency of late to delegate more and more of the field of otolaryngology to the head and neck surgeon, and plastic surgeon, and the neurosurgeon. Certainly some of this undoubtedly stems from the fear of injury to the facial nerve. This paper will attempt to show the role a well-trained and interested otolaryngologist may play with lesions in and about the extratemporal portion of the facial nerve. The reader has