Nasolacrimal duct at a glance
- What it is
- The nasolacrimal duct carries tears from the lacrimal sac into the nasal cavity.
- Location
- It runs down from the lacrimal sac within the bony nasolacrimal canal to open in the inferior meatus of the nose.
- Function
- It drains tears into the nose, which is why crying causes a runny nose.
- Body system
- Eye & ear · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA59556 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- About 12 to 18 mm long.
- Opening is guarded by a mucosal fold (valve of Hasner).
Clinical relevance
Congenital blockage is common in newborns and often resolves spontaneously.
Structures next to the nasolacrimal duct
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Inferior nasal concha · skeletal
- Maxilla · skeletal
- Lacrimal sac · eye & ear
- Lacrimal bone · skeletal
- Lacrimal canaliculus · eye & ear
- Vomer · skeletal
- Tarsal plate of lower eyelid · eye & ear
- Ethmoid · skeletal
- Suspensory ligament of lens · skeletal
- Lens · eye & ear
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Nasolacrimal duct (FMA59556). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §14.1 Sensory Perception. 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.