The tear bone
Lacrimal bone · os lacrimale
The smallest bone of the face, in the inner wall of the eye socket.
What it does
The lacrimal bone is a fingernail-sized plate in the inner corner of each eye socket. A groove in it holds the tear sac, which collects tears from the eye and drains them down a channel into the nose. That is why your nose runs when you cry.
Nearby
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Sources
Drafted with AI help; awaiting a human fact-check against these sources.
Open in the 3D atlas · Suggest a correction · Not medical advice.
3D models: Z-Anatomy & BodyParts3D (CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2.1 JP). Card text CC BY 4.0.