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Lacrimal bone: anatomy, location and function

A small, delicate bone of the medial orbit wall. Forms the lacrimal fossa for the lacrimal sac and the nasolacrimal duct.

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Structures

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Highlighted in the model: Lacrimal bone. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Lacrimal bone at a glance

What it is
A small, delicate bone of the medial orbit wall.
Location
Lies between the frontal process of the maxilla and the ethmoid.
Function
Forms the lacrimal fossa for the lacrimal sac and the nasolacrimal duct.
Body system
Skeletal · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA53646 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is the smallest and most fragile bone of the face.
  • Its posterior lacrimal crest and the anterior lacrimal crest of the maxilla bound the fossa for the lacrimal sac.
  • It articulates with the frontal bone, ethmoid, maxilla and inferior nasal concha.

Structures next to the lacrimal bone

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Lacrimal bone (FMA53646). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.