Anatomy Def: Smooth part of the forehead between the eyebrows and above the nose.
Outlander Def: Marsali’s smooth and confident brow supports her beloved Fergus as he plans Murtagh’s escape!
Learn about the glabella in Anatomy Lesson # 11, “Jamie’s Face” or “Ye do it Face to Face?”
When we are restful and relaxed, glabellar (adj.) skin is smooth. When we are anxious, worried, appalled or plagued by other strong emotion, glabellar skin may wrinkle. A pair of small muscles deep to the glabellar skin contract to produce the wrinkling. Perhaps you recall a previous fun fact about corrugator supercilii. No? Well, no mind, this is the name of the wee muscles that wrinkle the glabellar skin.
Those who develop permanent wrinkles of the glabellar skin can opt for Botox injections which paralyze corrugator supercilii (and others) to produce a more comely smooth brow.
The glabella isn’t just for beauty, it is also used in diagnosing certain neurological conditions. Repetitive tapping on the glabella elicits the Glabellar reflex or Glabellar tap sign, a reflex wherein subjects blink in response to the first several taps. If the blinking persists, the response is deemed abnormal.
Fun Fact: In cases of dehydration, the skin of the glabella can be gently lifted and pinched to measure skin turgor. A dehydrated patient’s glabellar skin tends to remain “tented” rather than resume its normal flat state.
Read about the smooth skin of the brow in Drums of Autumn. Here, Ian paints Claire’s face with mud after the manner of his indigenous friends. As his finger passes between her eyebrows, the mud is spread over the glabella:
Ian hadn’t waited for the results of my dithering. He stooped and scraped up a small clot of earth, spat in it and stirred it to mud. Without comment, he dipped his forefinger into the puddle, and drew a line from my forehead down the bridge of my nose.
“Ian!”
“Shh,” he murmured, frowning in concentration. “Like this, I think.” He added two lines across each cheekbone, and a rough zigzag down the left side of my jawbone.
See Marsali’s smooth glabella as she attends Fergus, watching him plan the jail break in Outlander ep 412, Providence. Go get ’em Fergus and Marsali!
A deeply grateful,
Outlander Anatomist
Photo credit: Starz