Your cranial nerves are imperative to how your neck, head, and face function. Any damage to these 12 nerves could have a great impact on your day-to-day life.

Next, test the function of all 12 cranial nerves. Cranial-nerve lesions can affect one or both sides of the body, so it is important to examine each side and compare the results.

Symptoms can depend on the specific cranial nerve the neuropathy affects. Some nerves have specific functions such as vision, taste, and hearing. Therefore, damage can lead to a loss of these ...

Nerves look blue in the reconstructed view of a genetically engineered mouse (left) whose neurons produce a fluorescent ...

Some cranial nerves also contribute to voluntary and involuntary muscle movements. The trochlear nerve, also known as cranial nerve 4 (CN IV ), controls the superior oblique muscle in your eye.

These are the tenth cranial nerves, the longest of the 12 pairs of cranial nerves that connect the brainstem and the body. The vagus nerves run down the neck where they are about 5mm in diameter.

Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is extremely rare, making up only about 1.3% of neuralgias affecting cranial nerves. It’s thought to affect fewer than 1 in 100,000 people per year, and it seems to ...