Lacrimal apparatus (Latin)

The glandula lacrimalis is located with a small fossa on the facies orbitalis of the os frontale and is separated into a superior pars orbitalis and an inferior pars palpebralis by the aponeurosis of the m. levator palpebrae superioris. It produces lacrimal fluid, which is the aqueous component of the tear film and reaches the eye through 6-12 ductuli excretorii that open up into the superolateral aspect of the saccus conjunctivalis between the eyelids (palpebrae) and eyeball (bulbus oculi). Not visible in this image are small glandulae lacrimales accessoriae (of Krause) at the fornix conjunctivae, which assist in the production of lacrimal fluid. The fluid then moves from lateral to medial across the eyeball, facilitated by the blinking of the eyelids, and collects in the lacrimal lake (lacus lacrimalis) in the angulus medialis oculi. This accumulation of fluid is drained by the papillae lacrimales, which conduct the fluid through the canaliculi lacrimales into the saccus lacrimalis, which continues inferiorly as the ductus nasolacrimalis opening on the lateral wall of the meatus nasi inferior.