Lacrimal bone

Lacrimal bone
Position of the lacrimal bone (shown in green).
Medial wall of the orbit. Lacrimal bone is in yellow.
Details
Identifiers
Latinos lacrimale
TA98A02.1.09.001
TA2744
FMA52741
Anatomical terms of bone

The lacrimal bone is a small and fragile bone of the facial skeleton; it is roughly the size of the little fingernail. It is situated at the front part of the medial wall of the orbit. It has two surfaces and four borders. Several bony landmarks of the lacrimal bone function in the process of lacrimation or crying. Specifically, the lacrimal bone helps form the nasolacrimal canal necessary for tear translocation. A depression on the anterior inferior portion of the bone, the lacrimal fossa, houses the membranous lacrimal sac. Tears or lacrimal fluid, from the lacrimal glands, collect in this sac during excessive lacrimation. The fluid then flows through the nasolacrimal duct and into the nasopharynx. This drainage results in what is commonly referred to a runny nose during excessive crying or tear production. Injury or fracture of the lacrimal bone can result in posttraumatic obstruction of the lacrimal pathways.[1][2]

  1. ^ Maliborski, A; Różycki, R (2014). "Diagnostic imaging of the nasolacrimal drainage system. Part I. Radiological anatomy of lacrimal pathways. Physiology of tear secretion and tear outflow". Med. Sci. Monit. 20: 628–38. doi:10.12659/MSM.890098. PMC 3999077. PMID 24743297.
  2. ^ Saladin (7 January 2014). Anatomy & Physiology : The Unity of Form and Function (Seventh ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 978-0-07-340371-7.[page needed]