The facial artery is the major vessel supplying the face (Fig. 8.67). It branches from the anterior surface of the external carotid artery, passes up through the deep structures of the neck, and appears at the lower border of the mandible after passing posterior to the submandibular gland. Curving around the inferior border of the mandible just anterior to the masseter, where its pulse can be felt, the facial artery then enters the face. From this point the facial artery runs upward and medially in a tortuous course. It passes along the side of the nose and terminates as the angular artery at the medial corner of the eye.