General Medical Information

Tarsus

Susan D. John
Michael D. Maves

The upper tarsal plate provides rigidity to the upper eyelid and is larger than the lower tarsus.. Each eyelid consists from without inward of skin, subcutaneous tissue, voluntary muscle of the orbicularis oculi, orbital septum, tarsus, smooth muscle, and conjunctiva. The more freely mobile upper lid receives the insertion of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle. The orbicularis oculi is the sphincteric muscle of the upper and lower eyelids. It attaches at a medial palpebral ligament and spreads in an arc laterally and inferiorly to provide a sphincteric muscle to the eye. It receives innervation from the temporal and zygomatic branches of the facial nerve. This muscle interdigitates with the frontalis muscle and the corrugator supercilia.