Superior oblique
Head & throat
Deep muscle — it lies under other muscles. X-ray makes the muscles over it see-through.
- Origin
- Sphenoid bone, above and inside the optic canal
- Insertion
- Upper outer back part of the eyeball, after its tendon passes through a pulley (trochlea)
- Action
- Turns the eye down and outward and rotates it inward
- Nerve supply
- Trochlear nerve (CN IV)
The longest and thinnest eye muscle. Its tendon runs through a small loop of cartilage at the upper inner corner of the orbit and then turns back to the eyeball, so it pulls the eye down and out.
Superior oblique anatomy page →