Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Lacrimal apparatus

The structures that secrete tears (the lacrimal gland) and drain them into the nose (puncta, canaliculi, lacrimal sac and nasolacrimal duct), keeping the cornea moist.

Key points

• Gland: upper lateral orbit → superior fornix.
• Puncta → canaliculi → lacrimal sac → nasolacrimal duct → inferior meatus.
• Secretomotor: facial nerve via the pterygopalatine ganglion.
• Lacrimal gland: conjunctival buds.
• Sac + nasolacrimal duct: buried ectoderm of the naso-optic furrow.
• Tears contain lysozyme.
• Sac + nasolacrimal duct: pseudostratified ciliated.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Nerve supply · Histology · Development

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1575–1576
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 11, PDF p. 151; ch. 19, PDF pp. 358–359
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 21, PDF pp. 388–389

More from the head and neck

• Laryngeal membranes and ligaments
• Larynx
• Lateral cricoarytenoid
• Lateral pterygoid
• Lateral rectus
• Lens
• Levator palpebrae superioris
• Levator veli palatini
• Lips and oral cavity
• Longus colli and longus capitis
• Mandible
• Mandibular nerve

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