The cheekbone
Zygomatic bone · os zygomaticum
The bone that forms the prominence of your cheek and the outer rim of the eye socket.
What it does
Each zygomatic bone forms the high point of your cheek and the outer and lower edges of the eye socket. A slender arch runs back from it towards the ear. One of the main chewing muscles, the masseter, hangs from this arch.
Surprising fact
The zygomatic arch is a bony bridge you can feel running back from your cheek to just in front of your ear, and the temporalis muscle passes underneath it to reach your jaw.
Why it matters
Cheekbones give the face much of its shape, so they matter to facial surgeons and portrait artists alike. A punch to the cheek can break the arch and make it painful to open your mouth.
Nearby
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Sources
Drafted with AI help; awaiting a human fact-check against these sources.
Open in the 3D atlas · Suggest a correction · Not medical advice.
3D models: Z-Anatomy & BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2.1 JP). Card text CC BY 4.0.