Three Facial Nerve Mnemonics
By Molly Lewis
Anatomy has always been one of my favorite subjects, and I love using mnemonics to remember all the details! Here are three facial nerve mnemonics that I found really helpful in learning neuroanatomy.
Facial Nerve Branches
Facial Nerve Mnemonic #1
The facial nerve (AKA the seventh cranial nerve, or CN 7, or CN VII) gives off several branches. This mnemonic helps you to remember them in order from superior to inferior.
“Party To Zanzibar By Motor Car”
- Party = Posterior Auricular branch
- To = Temporal branches
- Zanzibar = Zygomatic branches
- (side note: you can’t actually take a road trip to Zanzibar – it’s a group of islands! (off the coast of Tanzania, on the east side of Africa)
- Buccal branches
- Careful! These are different than the Buccal nerve that branches off of the mandibular nerve (AKA V3- the third branch of the fifth cranial nerve (the trigeminal nerve)).
- Mandibular branches
- Cervical branches
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Facial Nerve Mnemonic #2
*****Helpful for anatomy practical exams!*****
Use your hand to remember the distribution of the facial nerve branches on the face:
Facial Nerve Mnemonic #3
The muscles the facial nerve innervates can be remembered using:
“make a Facial Expression to say PSSP”
- Facial Expression = all the muscles of facial expression
- P = Posterior Digastric muscle
- S = Stapedius muscle
- S = Stylohyoid muscle
- P = Platysma
I hope these facial nerve mnemonics (or at least 1 of them!) help you! (Maybe you’ll get enough free time to take a tiny road trip??).
If you have comments, requests for future mnemonics, or have a facial nerve mnemonic of your own, post below!
Sources:
Mnemonic #1: http://www.doctorslounge.com/studlounge/mnemonics/anatomy/head_neck/nerves.htm, with some alteration by me…
Mnemonic #2 + it’s photo: http://mnemonicanatomy.blogspot.com/2012/10/remember-facial-nerves.html
Mnemonic #3: http://www.anatomyuniverse.com/HeadNeckMnemonics.html, with some alteration by me