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# Lacrimal bones

The lacrimal bones are tiny bones in the inner wall of each eye socket; they hold the tear sac and the start of the tear duct.

Official name: Lacrimal bone

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## What it is

Tiny bones in the inner wall of the eye socket.

## What it does

Hold the tear sac and the start of the tear duct.

## Key points

- The smallest and most fragile bone of the face; it forms the front part of the medial orbital wall
- Its lacrimal groove and the frontal process of the maxilla form the fossa for the lacrimal sac, which leads down into the nasolacrimal canal and the inferior meatus
- The posterior lacrimal crest gives origin to the lacrimal part of [orbicularis oculi](https://durgical.com/en/anatomy/orbital-part-of-orbicularis-oculi/), which helps pump tears into the sac with each blink

## Key facts

**Joints with**
Frontal, maxilla, ethmoid, inferior concha

**Landmarks**
Lacrimal fossa (tear sac), posterior lacrimal crest

## Relations

**In front**
Frontal process of the [maxilla](https://durgical.com/en/anatomy/maxilla/), which carries the anterior lacrimal crest and the medial canthal tendon

**Behind**
Orbital plate (lamina papyracea) of the [ethmoid bone](https://durgical.com/en/anatomy/ethmoid-bone/)

**Above**
[Frontal bone](https://durgical.com/en/anatomy/frontal-bone/)

**Medial**
Anterior [ethmoid cells](https://durgical.com/en/anatomy/anterior-cells-of-ethmoid-bone/) and the front of the middle meatus of the [nasal cavity](https://durgical.com/en/anatomy/nasal-cavity/)

**Below**
Orbital surface of the maxilla, and the lacrimal process of the inferior nasal concha in the wall of the nasolacrimal canal

## How to find it

It is not palpable. In surgery it is reached through the medial canthus or endoscopically from the nose, near the front of the middle concha attachment; on CT it is the thin plate behind the lacrimal sac fossa.

## On imaging

CT shows the lacrimal fossa and nasolacrimal canal in naso-orbito-ethmoid fractures; dacryocystography or CT dacryocystography outlines the [tear drainage](https://durgical.com/en/anatomy/lacrimal-canaliculus/) when a blockage is suspected.

## Clinical notes

- Dacryocystorhinostomy cuts a window through the lacrimal bone and the adjoining frontal process of the maxilla, letting the lacrimal sac drain straight into the nose and bypassing a blocked nasolacrimal duct
- Naso-orbito-ethmoid fractures can crush the lacrimal bone and the tear drainage, causing a watering eye (epiphora)
- Fractures of the thin medial orbital wall can trap the [medial rectus](https://durgical.com/en/anatomy/medial-rectus-muscle/), limiting abduction of the eye

## Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

## What does the lacrimal bone form, and what does its groove hold?

The front part of the medial orbital wall; its lacrimal groove, with the frontal process of the maxilla, forms the fossa for the lacrimal sac.

## What does dacryocystorhinostomy do through the lacrimal bone?

It opens a window through the lacrimal bone and frontal process of the maxilla so the lacrimal sac drains straight into the nose, bypassing a blocked duct.

## What symptom follows a naso-orbito-ethmoid fracture that crushes the lacrimal bone?

A watering eye (epiphora), because the tear drainage is damaged.

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Educational information, not medical advice. For any symptom, see a health professional.

## Its names

**Official Latin (TA2)**
os lacrimale TA2 744

**Official Spanish (DeCS)**
Huesos lagrimales

**English (TA2)**
Lacrimal bone

Sources: Terminologia Anatomica (TA2); [Anatomy, Head and Neck, Orbit Bones](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK531490/); [Anatomy, Head and Neck, Skull](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499834/).

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Representative model, for educational purposes only.

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