Quick Facts
Origin: Nasociliary nerve.
Course: Run along the medial and superior aspect of the optic nerve to the sclera of the posterior medial eye.
Branches: None.
Supply: Sensory: conveys general sensation from the eye and cornea; Sympathetic: dilator pupillae muscle.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
The long ciliary nerves originate as branches of the nasociliary nerve in the posterior orbit. They typically branch off the nasociliary nerve as it passes over the optic nerve.
Course
The long ciliary nerves run along the medial side of the optic nerve, inserting into the sclera of the posterior eye, slightly on the medial side.
Branches
There are no named branches.
Supplied Structures
The long ciliary nerves are sensory nerves that also transmit sympathetic fibers to the eye.
The sensory fibers convey general sensation from the eye and cornea. The sympathetic fibers traveling with the internal carotid artery and the ophthalmic artery join the nasociliary nerve, pass to the long ciliary nerves, then reach the eye where they innervate the dilator pupillae muscle.
List of Clinical Correlates
—Mydriasis
—Miosis
—Corneal reflex
—Pupillary light reflex
Learn more about this topic from other Elsevier products
Long Ciliary Nerves
The long ciliary nerves contain postganglionic sympathetic fibers from the superior cervical ganglion that innervate the dilator pupillae muscle (Standring, 2008).
