Sympathetic fibers to the eyeball may not enter the ganglion as a separate sympathetic root. Rather, the postganglionic sympathetic fibers may leave the plexus associated with the internal carotid artery in the cavernous sinus, join the ophthalmic nerve [V1], and course into the ciliary ganglion in the sensory root from the nasociliary nerve. In addition, the sympathetic fibers carried in the nasociliary nerve may not enter the ganglion at all and may course directly into the eyeball in the long ciliary nerves (Fig. 8.107). Whatever their path, postganglionic sympathetic fibers reach the eyeball and innervate the dilator pupillae muscle.