Malaris muscle, the lateral muscular band of orbicularis oculi muscle

Abstract

Little is currently known about the variations in the muscular band around the orbicularis oculi muscle (OOc) region, and so the aim of the current study was to describe in anatomic terms the morphologic patterns of the lateral muscular bands of the OOc. Sixty-one hemifaces from embalmed Korean adult cadavers (34 males, 27 females; age range, 45-85 years; mean age, 62.6 years; 28 bilateral and 5 unilateral) were dissected to reveal the anatomic features of the region around the OOc. The lateral muscular band originating from the superficial temporal fascia lateral to the OOc was observed in 54.1% of cases. It terminated at the zygomatic arch region in 17 cases (type A, 27.9%), at the cheek region in 11 cases (type B, 18%), and at the angle of the mouth in 5 cases (type C, 8.2%). When the linear length from the lateral canthus to the tragion was set as 100, the length from the lateral canthus to the lateral edge of OOc was 34.0 (male, 34.1; female, 33.7), and the length between the lateral edge of OOc and the lateral muscular bands of OOc was 6.4 (male, 6.5; female, 6.2). The results of this study suggest that the lateral muscular bands of the OOc may play a significant role in facial animation and dimple formation. In addition, these data provide an index of suggested regions to be injected in patients with periorbital rhytides.