Quick Facts
Origin: Pectoral fascia.
Insertion: Inferior border of mandible and adjacent muscles.
Action: Tenses skin of neck; depresses mandible.
Innervation: Cervical branch of facial nerve (CN VII).
Arterial Supply: Submental and suprascapular arteries.
Origin
The platysma is a thin muscle that blends with the fascia covering the deltoid and pectoralis major muscles.
Insertion
The fibers of the platysma muscle attach to the lower border of the mandible and the surrounding muscles, including the depressor anguli oris and depressor labii inferioris muscles.
Key Features & Anatomical Relations
The platysma muscle may also be considered a muscle of the neck since the bulk of the muscle sits there. However, the platysma muscle originates from the second pharyngeal arch during embryonic development and is innervated by the facial nerve; thus, it is categorized as a facial muscle.
Actions
The platysma muscle is involved in multiple actions:
- tenses the skin of the neck;
- draws the lips and angles of the mouth downwards;
- assists in depression of the mandible at the temporomandibular joint (Standring, 2016).
List of Clinical Correlates
- Bell’s palsy
References
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series 41st edn.: Elsevier Limited.
Learn more about this topic from other Elsevier products
Platysma Muscle
Cinching the platysma muscles in the midline via platysmaplasty can enhance the tightening of the neck by face lift via a hammock or sling effect conveyed by the superolateral pull of the SMAS/platysma plication.
