Nasal bones

Nose bone
Nasal bone visible at center, in dark green.
Cartilages of the nose. Side view. (Nasal bone visible at upper left.)
Details
Identifiers
Latin	os nasale
TA	A02.1.10.001
FMA	52745
Anatomical terms of bone []

The nasal bones are two small oblong bones, varying in size and form in different individuals; they are placed side by side at the middle and upper part of the face, and form, by their junction, "the bridge" of the nose.

Each has two surfaces and four borders.

The outer surface is concavoconvex from above downward, convex from side to side; it is covered by the procerus and nasalis muscles, and perforated about its center by a foramen, for the transmission of a small vein.

The inner surface is concave from side to side, and is traversed from above downward, by a groove for the passage of a branch of the nasociliary nerve.

The nasal articulates with four bones: two of the cranium, the frontal and ethmoid, and two of the face, the opposite nasal and the maxilla.

In primitive bony fish and tetrapods, the nasal bones are the most anterior of a set of four paired bones forming the roof of the skull, being followed in sequence by the frontals, the parietals, and the postparietals. Their form in living species is highly variable, depending on the shape of the head, but they generally form the roof of the snout or beak, running from the nostrils to a position short of the orbits. In most animals, they are generally therefore proportionally larger than in humans or great apes, because of the shortened faces of the latter. Turtles, unusually, lack nasal bones, with the prefrontal bones of the orbit reaching all the way to the nostrils.

X-ray of nasal bone fracture

Nasal bone

Orbital bones

Lateral wall of nasal cavity, showing ethmoid bone in position.

Articulation of nasal and lacrimal bones with maxilla.

Right nasal bone. Outer surface.

Right nasal bone. Inner surface.

Close up of side view of the skull.