Peripheral innervation of extraocular muscles.

In order to avoid injury to the nerves supplying the extraocular muscles during orbital surgery, I studied the anatomy of these nerves in five human orbits that had been serially sectioned. Each of the nerves, except for the trochlear, exists as bundles of fascicles rather than as a discrete trunk. I made two other observations of surgical importance. First, the nerve to the inferior oblique muscle may pass through the belly of the inferior rectus muscle and then course beneath it before it reaches its normal position. Second, a fibrous septum at the orbital apex separates the abducent nerve from the other motor nerves.