The Orbicularis Oculi

Understanding the linchpin of myopia

More-click-polaris Lock-of-dye? Poor-stick-of-Larry's Shock-of-pie? Snore-flick-in-Paris Clock-you-fly? I-drive-a-Lexus Ask-me-why?

No, no, no and no. We're talking about the Orbicularis Oculi (say or-BICK-ye-Lair-iss OCK-ye-li), one of the many muscles within our face. This muscle is sometimes called the Orbicularis Palpebrarum or the Sphincter Oculi.

What, Why and Where?
The Orbicularis Oculi is a broad, thin, circular muscle that covers the eyelid and the surrounding eye socket. Because of its round shape, it's considered a sphincter muscle. As you might already know, sphincter muscles are ring-shaped muscles that surround a natural opening in the body. Their shape and function help to close the opening that they cover.

The Orbicularis Oculi is composed of three parts: the palpebral portion, the orbital portion, and the lachrimal portion. The palpebral portion is the part that covers the eyelid. The orbital portion of the muscle surrounds the orbit or eye socket, extending from the bottom of the forehead down to the front of the cheek. This muscle actually connects to part of the upper jaw or maxilla. The upper fibers of the orbital portion blend in with the occipito-frontalis (on the forehead) and corrugator supercilli (above the eyebrow) muscles. The lachrimal portion (tensor tarsi; Horner's muscle; Duverney's muscle) connects from the inside bridge of the nose and passes across the lachrimal sac to insert with the palpebral portion of the muscle. These three portions work together to narrow, close, or blink the eye.

X-Ray Vision
The human face is one massive maze of muscles. All facial muscles are connected to the skin -- if this weren't the case, then we would have a hard time making any facial expressions. The reason why we're able to express ourselves so easily with our face is because of this amazing maze of muscular mayhem!

In order to help you see what the Orbicularis Oculi muscle actually looks like, I've enabled this webpage with a high-tech, state-of-the-art, advanced, bi-directional, titanium-plated, dual-action, binary scanning, gamma-ray absorbing, x-ray emitting mouse pointer that creates an x-ray image when moved over a picture. Just by coincidence, I happen to have a picture of myself for you to test this out on. If you move your technically advanced x-ray mouse pointer over the picture, you will see the actual muscles in my face. That big, round muscle that goes around my eye is the Orbicularis Oculi. Click on the picture if you'd like to see it enlarged.

The human body is composed of about 650 muscles. In most cases, muscles work in pairs. Consider the leg, for example. One group of muscles work together to draw the leg forward as you walk across the floor or kick a soccer ball toward the goal. Another group of muscles work together to draw the leg backward while you walk or prepare to kick the soccer ball again. This coordinated pairing of muscle groups is found throughout our bodies. This is what makes us "bendable" in many different directions.

When one pair of muscles move the body in a certain direction, the antagonist pair of muscles that move the body in the opposite direction must relax or else conflict of movement will occur. This "I'll relax to let you move" principle of yield is known as Sherrington's Law of Reciprocal Innervation. It was named after Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, a British physiologist who shared the Nobel Prize in 1932 for his studies into our nervous and muscular systems. Therefore, when contraction of a muscle is stimulated, there is a simultaneous inhibition of its antagonist. This is very essential for coordinated movement.

Sphincter muscles are a little bit different, however. With a round sphincter muscle such as the Orbicularis Oculi, there is no direct antagonist to regulate its movement. As pointed out by a Feldenkrais practitioner friend of mine in Switzerland, Dieter Didier Stoecklin, the relaxation of a sphincter muscle is not governed by the sensory-motor nervous system but by the vegetative nervous system with its two branches of sympathetic (arousal) and parasympathetic (relaxing) branches. In other words, when the Orbicularis Oculi muscle is pulled, there is no opposing muscle to counteract the force and say, "Hey, don't tread on me!"

Using your x-ray imaging mouse cursor again, you'll notice that there is a big muscle that goes all the way around the mouth -- this muscle is called the Orbicularis Oris ("orbicularis" because it's round). You'll also notice that there are two muscles on the cheek that connect the Orbicularis Oculi muscle directly to the mouth. The first of these is called the Levator Labii Superioris (say le-VAY-ter LAB-ee-eye soo-PEER-ee-or-iss) which is kind of rectangular in shape. It connects near the lower edge of the occular orbit (eye socket) and attaches to the muscular tissue of the orbicularis oris muscle of the upper lip. This muscle is used to elevate the upper lip.

The second muscle that connects the Orbicularis Oculi to your mouth is called the Levator Labii Superioris Alaeque Nasi (say le-VAY-ter LAB-ee-eye soo-PEER-ee-or-iss uh-LEE-qwee NAYZ-eye), and this is a bit more triangular in shape. It also runs a bit along the side of the nose, hence the "nasi" part of the name. This muscle is used to draw the upper lip and nose upward, and if you're ever expressing disdain or contempt, you're using this muscle.

Why is it that women often open their mouths while applying make-up? Because they know that the mouth is connected to the eye. If there is tension in the mouth, then the levator muscles which connect the mouth and the eye are shortened. When this happens, the Orbicularis Oculi is pulled downward which ultimately affects the shape of the eye.

"But how does the Orbicularis Oculi affect eyeball shape?" you ask. The Orbicularis Oculi circumscribes or encircles the front half of the eyeball. The eyeball protrudes from its socket all the through the center of the Orbicularis Oculi. Take a look at someone's profile, and you'll see how much the eyeball protrudes through this muscle, almost as if the eyeball had been "inserted" into it. Slowly, over time, because of muscle tension, this and other muscles in your body can change shape because of tension. The tension does not originate in the Orbicularis Oculi, but it certainly ends up there.

And as stated elsewhere, by reshaping the body through relaxation, the shape of eyeball can be changed and the vision improved.

As usual, stay tuned for more.

DISCLAIMER: The information presented on this website is for informational purposes only.