Most of the veins of the face and scalp run (Fig. 16.1) concurrently with the respective arteries that supply the muscles of the head and neck region. These veins can vary in several ways but are generally divided into superficial and deep groups. The venous drainage of the deeper cranial region begins intracranially as a plexus of smaller channels that drain into larger cerebral veins and empty into the dural venous sinuses (Fig. 16.2). These sinuses comprise the superior and inferior sagittal, straight, transverse, sigmoid, and occipital sinuses; the confluence of sinuses—the point where the superior sagittal, straight, and occipital sinuses connect—comprise the cavernous, sphenoparietal, superior and inferior petrosal, and basilar sinuses (Fig. 16.3). The larger cerebral veins are joined by the diploic and emissary veins, which run through the compact bone and drain into the dural venous sinuses. The deep veins of the face constitute the pterygoid venous plexus.