You contract your muscles as a form of non-verbal communication.But unlike your other muscles, which attach to your bones, your facial muscles attach to other muscles or to your facial skin. As a result, any contraction small or large in one of the muscles stretches your skin and affects your expression, the BBC explains on its website. Via this contraction process, you can make countless facial expressions.
Frontalis
Your frontalis muscle runs vertically along the forehead. Also called the occipitofrontalis, this muscle works the eyebrows, producing surprised or furrowed looks. The frontalis muscle is not connected to any bones, the RightHealth website reports --- rather, it uses its many fibers to attach itself to the muscles around it. Physically, the muscle is shaped like a rectangle and is very thin.
Orbicularis Oris
The orbicularis oris is the circular muscle that surrounds the mouth. Sometimes called the kissing muscle, the orbicularis oris helps you press together your lips, closing your mouth. It also allows you to perform thrusting action with your lips, which allows you to kiss or pout your lips. With this muscle, you can also purse your lips or grimace.
Orbicularis Oculi
The orbicularis oculi is the ring-like sphincter muscle that surrounds each eye, notes the InnerBody website. The muscle lies in the tissue of your eyelid and helps you close or open your eyes and blink. In addition, the orbicularis oculi compresses your tear, or lacrimal, gland, helping you control the flow of tears over your eye's surface. This muscle, when contracted, causes crow's feet, the series of wrinkles radiating from the outer corner of your eye.
Mentalis
Your mentalis muscle is located in the middle of your chin. It raises your chin and allows you to wrinkle its skin. In addition, the mentalis works the lower lip, allowing you to protrude and raise the lip. Actions done by the mentalis, like raising the chin and lip, help you to communicate disdain or doubt. The mentalis also provides a biological function, assisting you in drinking.
Considerations
You have many more muscles in your face. These include the buccinators near the cheek, which allow you to whistle and chew, and the depressor anguli oris near the chin, which angles your mouth down so that you can frown. Other muscles include the zygomaticus major and minor, which angle your upper lip upward so that you can smile. Also helping with the smiling process are the levator labii superioris, located between your cheek and your nose, and the levator labii superioris alaeque nasi, a muscle near your nose, according to the Flashcard Machine website.
