Key Concepts:

1. Harvest symptomatic side or bilateral superficial temporal artery
2. Before incision doppler out superficial temporal artery
3. When injecting local, inject superficial to avoid vessel spasm.
4. Frontal Nerve run half way point of zygomatic arch.  STA biopsy dissection will remain mostly posterior to this line to protect the nerve.
5. Once skin incision is made, identify STA near preauricular crease as STA is larger near the ear and gets smaller as it branches distally.  You can use sterile doppler to identify STA.
6. Harvest 2-3cm of STA for pathologic analysis.

Before skin incision, Find Superficial Temporal Artery (STA) with doppler

Red line marks STA found with doppler. Green marks Skin Incision within hairline.

Be aware of the frontal branch that provides motor function to frontalis 

Frontal nerve runs half way across the zygomatic arch (But it can be 0.8- 2cm from external auditory canal)

After the skin incision, using a sterile doppler, Identify STA closer to the ear. STA is usually larger and easier to find by the ear.

Once STA found, follow it distally until 2-3 cm of STA is exposed