Fasialis

Fasialis is not a standard term in contemporary English anatomy. It is typically encountered as a Latin form or, more commonly, a misspelling of facialis. In Latin, facialis means "of the face" and is used as an adjective in many anatomical terms derived from facies (face).

Examples include nervus facialis (the facial nerve), arteria facialis (the facial artery), musculus facialis (the facial muscle), and fascia facialis (the facial fascia). The fascia of the face is part of the superficial fascial system and helps compartmentalize the facial muscles and subcutaneous tissues.

An important structure associated with the Latin form facialis is the facial nerve (nervus facialis), cranial nerve VII. It innervates the muscles of facial expression, traverses the temporal bone, exits the skull at the stylomastoid foramen, and splits into five primary branches: temporal, zygomatic, buccal, mandibular (marginal), and cervical. The nerve also carries special sensory (taste) fibers via the chorda tympani and autonomic fibers via the greater petrosal nerve, distributed to the lacrimal gland and some salivary glands.

Because fasialis is not used as a stand-alone anatomical term, most modern texts prefer facial or facialis in Latin phrases. Confusion with fasial or fasialis can occur in historical literature or non-English sources.