Anomalous location of facial nerve deep to parotid gland.

The knowledge of normal and variant anatomy of the facial nerve is essential for safe surgery of the parotid gland. The location of a parotid mass in relation to the course of the facial nerve determines whether superficial or total parotidectomies should be performed. The variant course of the facial nerve within the parotid may endanger the nerve during parotid surgeries. The present report is an attempt to help the surgeons to minimize the error that can damage the nerve without previous knowledge of such type of rare variation.