"The persistent dorsal ophthalmic artery is a rare anatomical variant of the ophthalmic artery. Instead of arising from the supraclinoid (C6) segment of the internal carotid artery, as is normally the case, the persistent dorsal ophthalmic artery arises from the lateral aspect of the cavernous (C4) segment (at or near the inferolateral trunk) and passes into the orbit via the superior orbital fissure (instead of the optic canal) 1,3 or occasionally a duplicated optic canal 2."