Video: Regions of the head and neck

Hello everyone, this is Nicole from Kenhub and in today's tutorial we are going to talk about the regions of the head and neck. Healthcare professionals divide the head and neck into smaller regions to facilitate communication and help in the localization of anatomical structures. We'll cover a lot of regions in this tutorial, so let's not waste time and start with the regions of the head.

The regions of the head have a close relation with the underlying bones of the skull. For this reason we'll overlay an illustration of the skull so that we can see both the head and the skull underneath at the same time.

The human skull has two main parts: the neurocranium that is composed of the bones that protect the brain, and the viscerocranium, which consists of the bones that form the facial skeleton. The regions of the head are similarly grouped into regions of the neurocranium and regions of the viscerocranium, as you can see in the illustration.

The regions of the neurocranium are easy to remember, as they are named after the bone they overlie, except for the auricular region.

Here you can see the frontal region, located in the front of the head overlying the frontal bone. I'll now remove the highlight on the frontal region to make it easier to see the frontal bone. Keep in mind that although the limits between the bones are precise, the regions of the head are not bounded by specific landmarks, so in our illustration they might extend to the area lying over other skull bones.

Posteriorly to the frontal region is the parietal region, overlying the parietal bone. Now, this illustration shows the regions of the head from a lateral view, but remember that we have two parietal bones, one on each side of the head, as you can see from this top view of the skull. The same is true for the parietal regions of the head.

Moving inferiorly we can see the temporal region that, of course, lies predominantly over the squamous part of the temporal bone. Here we'll also remove the region highlight to make it easier to see the underlying bone. The temporal region is also bilateral, meaning that it is also found on both sides of the head.

And posteriorly we have another region of the neurocranium named after the underlying bone: the occipital region. Once more we removed the highlight of the occipital region to see the occipital bone. As we only have one occipital bone, we also only have one occipital region.

Moving on, we have the mastoid region, also known as the retroauricular region. This is the area behind your ear that overlies the mastoid part of the temporal bone. Now you can see the mastoid part of the temporal bone highlighted in green.

The last region of the neurocranium is the auricular region. This area is not named after a bone of the skull. The term ‘auricular’ comes from the Latin word ‘auris’, which means ear. So the auricular areas, one on each side of the head, are the areas around your ears.

Moving on to the regions of the viscerocranium, we can see the nasal region, an unpaired region that contains the nose and the nasal cavity. Even though the images of the face and skull don't overlap perfectly in this illustration, keep in mind that the nasal region overlies a large portion of the nasal bone, hence its name.

Superolaterally we have the orbital region. This area contains the structures related to the bony orbit: the orbital cavity, the eyeball, the extraocular muscles, the eyelids and the eyebrows. The orbicularis oculi muscle is also included here.

The region below that is of course called the infraorbital region, as suggested by its name. Both the orbital and infraorbital regions are bilateral.

Inferior to the infraorbital region we find the buccal region. On each side of the face, these are the areas popularly known as the cheeks. As a matter of fact, the word ‘bucca’ in Latin means exactly that: cheek. This region overlies the buccinator muscle.

Now, the region around your mouth is the oral region. It encompasses the oral cavity and its contents, like the teeth, tongue and palate, as well as the skin surrounding your mouth.

Below that we can see the mental region. The term mental in this context is not related to your mind, but to your 'mentum’, which is the Latin word for chin. This area overlies the mental protuberance of the mandible, which you can see if we remove the yellow highlight from the image. The nasal, oral and mental regions are the only unpaired regions of the viscerocranium, as they lie on the midline of the face.

Now that we have discussed the more anterior regions of the viscerocranium, let's talk about the two areas located more laterally.

The first of those is this one here, the zygomatic area. It couldn't be more simple: this area overlies the zygomatic bone and muscles, forming what is called the cheekbones, on each side of your face. And now you can see the zygomatic bone highlighted in green in our illustration. It's worth remembering that this area is bilateral.

Next we have the parotideomasseteric region, which is also known simply as the parotid region. As the name suggests, this area overlies the parotid gland and the masseter muscle, as we can see in our illustration.

That concludes our tour of the regions of the head, so let's continue our journey with the regions of the neck.

Before we get to the regions, there are two structures that I want to show you, as they serve as important landmarks for the regions of the neck.

The first one is the sternocleidomastoid muscle that you can see here. It spans from the clavicle and sternum upwards towards the mastoid part of the temporal bone. The anterior and posterior borders of this muscle serve as boundaries for some regions of the neck.

The second muscle to know is the trapezius muscle. It's a large, triangular muscle located on the posterior aspect of the neck. The anterior border of the trapezius muscle serves as boundaries to some regions of the neck.

Now that we know the main landmarks, it's very easy to understand the four main regions of the neck. The anterior cervical region lies anterior to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. So its limits are the anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid, posteriorly, the inferior border of the mandible, superiorly and the median line of the neck, anteriorly, separating it from the corresponding region on the opposite side of the neck.

Next we have the sternocleidomastoid region, which refers to the area located between the anterior and posterior borders of the muscle, or in other words, the area overlying the sternocleidomastoid muscle itself.

Posterior to that is a region called the lateral cervical region, limited anteriorly by the posterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, posteriorly by the anterior border of the trapezius muscle and inferiorly by the middle third of the clavicle.

And finally, we have the posterior cervical region, which refers to the area of the trapezius muscle posterior to its anterior border. Similar to the sternocleidomastoid region which overlies the sternocleidomastoid muscle, the posterior cervical region overlies the trapezius muscle. The posterior limit of that region is the midline of the back, which separates it from the corresponding region of the opposite, or controlateral, side of the neck.

Now let me clarify something that is a common source of confusion among anatomy students. The anterior cervical region is also known as the anterior triangle of the neck. You would expect that the posterior cervical region would also be called the posterior triangle of the neck, right? Well, actually, the posterior triangle of the neck is the lateral cervical region. So keep that in mind to avoid getting confused in the future!

Both the anterior and posterior triangles of the neck are further subdivided into smaller triangles, but we won't cover the details about these subdivisions in this tutorial, as we have an entire study unit and video about the triangles of the neck if you are ready to delve into it!

And this is it for today's video! I hope you enjoyed learning about the regions of the head and neck. See you in the next one!