Nasal bone at a glance
- What it is
- A small, paired rectangular bone forming the bridge of the nose.
- Location
- The two nasal bones meet in the midline, between the frontal processes of the maxillae and below the frontal bone.
- Function
- Supports the bridge of the nose.
- Body system
- Skeletal · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA53648 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Each articulates with the frontal bone above, the frontal process of the maxilla laterally, the opposite nasal bone and the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid behind.
- The lateral nasal cartilages attach to its lower border, continuing the bridge of the nose.
Clinical relevance
The most commonly fractured facial bone.
Structures next to the nasal bone
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Infratrochlear nerve · nervous
- Lacrimal canaliculus · eye & ear
- Lacrimal sac · eye & ear
- Septal nasal cartilage · respiratory
- Lateral nasal cartilage · respiratory
- Lacrimal bone · skeletal
- Trochlea of superior oblique · skeletal
- Cornea · eye & ear
- Anterior chamber of eyeball · eye & ear
- Supratrochlear nerve · nervous
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Nasal bone (FMA53648). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
- 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.