It passes obliquely up beneath the digastric and stylohyoid muscles, over which it arches to enter a groove on the posterior surface of the submandibular gland.

[3] It then curves upward over the body of the mandible at the antero-inferior angle of the masseter (the antegonial notch);[1][2][4] passes forward and upward across the cheek to the angle of the mouth, then ascends along the side of the nose, and ends at the medial commissure of the eye, under the name of the angular artery.

On the face, where it passes over the body of the mandible, it is comparatively superficial, lying immediately beneath the dilators of the mouth.

In its course over the face, it is covered by the integument, the fat of the cheek, and, near the angle of the mouth, by the platysma, risorius, and zygomaticus major.

[6] This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 553 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918) ocular group: central retinal