Lateral rectus
Musculus rectus lateralis
Sensory (eye & ear)Deep musclesHeadLeft and right
View left in 3D View right in 3D
- What it is
- A flat strap muscle arising from the common tendinous ring at the orbit apex and running forward along the orbital wall to insert by a thin, broad, white tendon on the sclera in front of the equator.
- Function
- Rotates the eye outward (abduction), away from the nose.
- Size
- ~40 mm long; tendon ~8.8 mm long, inserting ~6.9 mm from the limbus.
- Clinical note
- The only muscle of the abducens nerve (CN VI, "LR6"); a sixth-nerve palsy - often the first sign of raised intracranial pressure - leaves the eye unable to look outward.