Quick Facts
Location: Viscerocranium.
Bone Type: Flat bone.
Key Features: Crest, ethmoid groove, internal and external surfaces, and superior, inferior, medial, and lateral borders.
Articulates With: Opposite nasal bone, frontal and ethmoid bones, and maxilla.
Arterial Supply: Ophthalmic and angular arteries.
Related parts of the anatomy
Key Features & Anatomical Relations
The nasal bones are a pair of small, quadrilateral bones found along the anterior aspect of the cranium. They are classified as flat bones and contribute to the formation of the bridge of the nose, the roof of the nasal cavity, and the viscerocranium. Each nasal bone includes the following bony features:
- surfaces: internal and external surfaces, and superior, inferior, medial, and lateral borders;
- landmarks: crest and ethmoid groove of nasal bone.
More information regarding these bony features can be found in the Surfaces and Landmarks tabs for this bone.
On its corresponding side, each nasal bone is located:
- anterior to the ethmoid bone;
- inferior to the frontal bone;
- medial to a maxilla.
Each nasal bone articulates with the:
- opposite nasal bone at the internasal suture;
- frontal bone at the frontonasal suture;
- maxilla at a nasomaxillary suture;
- ethmoid bone.
Ossification
Ossification of each nasal bone occurs at one ossification center, which appears in utero during the third month (Standring, 2016).
Variations
In some individuals;
- the right and left nasal bones may be asymmetrical;
- the nasal bones may be present as more than two bones, or may present as a single, unpaired bone (Tubbs, Shoja and Loukas, 2016).
Surface Anatomy
Regarding surface anatomy, the external surface of the nasal bone is subcutaneous and can be easily palpated.
List of Clinical Correlates
- Fracture of nasal bone
- Dislocation of nasal bone
References
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series 41st edn.: Elsevier Limited.
Tubbs, R. S., Shoja, M. M. and Loukas, M. (2016) Bergman's Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation. Wiley.
Learn more about this topic from other Elsevier products
Nasal Bone
The osseocartilaginous vault consists of the bony vault (the nasal bones, the nasal process of the frontal bones, and the nasal process of the maxilla) and the cartilaginous vault (the upper lateral cartilages [ULCs] and the dorsal aspect of the cartilaginous septum).
