In the vast majority of cases the facial nerve trunk (FNT) bifurcates to form the temporo-facial and cervico-facial trunks1 which in turn branch further to form the five complexly anastomotic terminal branches of the facial nerve. Despite the complex nature of the terminal branches, and aside from a few reported cases of trifurcation,2 the initial branching of the FNT is thought to be relatively uniform. However, in this article we report a case of the FNT branching in a plexiform arrangement with six initial branches, which may have implications for parotid surgery. Through an extensive literature search of standard texts on facial nerve anatomy we have not found a similar case reported.
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