Lacrimal canaliculi

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Lacrimal canaliculi
The lacrimal apparatus. Right side.
Latin	canaliculus lacrimalis
Gray's	subject #227 1028
Dorlands/Elsevier	c_04/12208445

The lacrimal canaliculi, also known as the lacrimal canals or lacrimal ducts, are the small channels in each eyelid that commence at minute orifices, termed puncta lacrimalia, on the summits of the papillæ lacrimales, seen on the margins of the lids at the lateral extremity of the lacus lacrimalis.

• The superior duct, the smaller and shorter of the two, at first ascends, and then bends at an acute angle, and passes medialward and downward to the lacrimal sac.

• The inferior duct at first descends, and then runs almost horizontally to the lacrimal sac.

At the angles they are dilated into ampullæ; their walls are dense in structure and their mucous lining is covered by stratified squamous epithelium, placed on a basement membrane.

Outside the latter is a layer of striped muscle, continuous with the lacrimal part of the Orbicularis oculi; at the base of each lacrimal papilla the muscular fibers are circularly arranged and form a kind of sphincter.

Clinical significance

Canaliculitis is an inflammation of the canaliculus.^[1]

See also

• Lacrimal apparatus
• canaliculus

References

External links

• lacrimal+canaliculus at eMedicine Dictionary

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

v • d • e Head and neck anatomy - accessory organs of the eye
General	Eyebrow - Eyelid - Canthus - Eyelash - Ciliary glands - Orbital septum - Plica semilunaris - Meibomian gland - Palpebral fissure
Lacrimal apparatus	Lacrimal lake - Lacrimal gland - Lacrimal canaliculi - Lacrimal punctum - Lacrimal papilla - Nasolacrimal duct - Lacrimal sac

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Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content

Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .