Eye socket
Eva Rudolf-Müller is a freelance writer in the medical team. She studied human medicine and newspaper sciences and has repeatedly worked in both areas - as a doctor in the clinic, as a reviewer, and as a medical journalist for various specialist journals. She is currently working in online journalism, where a wide range of medicine is offered to everyone.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.The eye socket (orbit) is a pyramid-shaped cavity in the skull that accommodates the eyeball and its numerous appendages (muscles, nerves, vessels, lacrimal apparatus). The wall of the eye socket consists of seven skull bones, is lined with periosteum and is very thin in places. Read everything you need to know about the eye socket: structure, function, diseases and injuries!
What is the eye socket?
The bony eye socket has the shape of a four-sided pyramid, the base of which points to the front and the tip of which is directed backwards towards the center. This base area forms the orbital entrance (aditus orbitae), which is almost rectangular with walls that are almost perpendicular in the middle and on the outer edge. The upper and lower edges are slightly lowered from the center of the face outwards. The axis of the orbital funnel is directed slightly outwards and upwards. The entire eye socket is about four to five centimeters deep.
The bony border of the eye socket
The bony borders of the orbit are formed by seven skull bones: the frontal bone, sphenoid bone, lacrimal bone, ethmoid bone, maxilla, zygomatic bone and palatine bone.
The frontal bone (frontal bone) and the horizontal wings of the sphenoid bone (sphenoid bone) form the so-called roof of the orbit. This roof acts in the front area as a border to the frontal sinus, in the rear area as a border to the anterior cranial fossa and the frontal lobe of the brain. In the front and side of the orbit roof there is a deep pit for the tear sac.
The middle border of the eye socket is formed by the lacrimal bone (os lacrimale) in front and by the ethmoid bone in the middle and back (ethmoid bone). In the wall of the lacrimal bone there is a pit for the tear sac, which continues down into the lacrimal nasal canal. This opens under the inferior turbinate.
The lower wall of the orbit is formed by the upper jaw (maxilla), zygomatic bone (os zygomaticum) and a small process of the palatine bone (os palatinum).
The side wall of the orbit runs obliquely from the front outside to the back inside and is therefore longer than the middle wall. It is formed by the zygomatic bone (Os zygomaticum) and the larger wing of the sphenoid bone.
The seven cranial bones that form the wall of the eye socket are lined with periosteum and are very thin in places: the bone is only 0.5 millimeters thick down towards the maxillary sinus; Towards the center back, a bone just 0.3 millimeters thick or even just the periosteum separates the eye socket from the ethmoid cells (part of the paranasal sinuses).
What is the function of the eye socket?
The eye socket accommodates the eyeball (globe) and its numerous appendages: muscles, nerves, vessels, lacrimal apparatus. It offers bony protection for structures of the eye. Most of the eye socket is filled by adipose tissue with connective tissue, which serves as a cushion for the eyeball.
Where is the eye socket located?
The paired eye socket is located in the upper area of the facial skull. The sphenoid sinus with the pituitary gland and the middle cranial fossa with the chiasm (optic nerve junction in the center of the middle cranial fossa) adjoin the orbit.
Above the eye socket are the anterior cranial fossa and the frontal sinus.
The bony canal for the optic nerve (nervus opticus) and the ocular artery (arteria ophtalmica) is located at the tip of the orbit. Next to it runs the ophthalmic vein (vena ophtalmica), which opens into the cavernous sinus (a venous network of vessels). Also at this point, several cranial nerves pass through the bone.
What problems can the eye socket cause?
Various complaints can occur in the eye socket area. Examples:
Inflammation of the eye socket
The wall of the orbit toward the nose is prone to infection, especially in the elderly; Pathogens can spread from the nasal cavity into the orbit through gaps in the tissue.
Sinus infections can also spread to the eye socket, such as frontal sinus infections (the frontal sinus can extend far into the roof of the orbit). Also starting from the maxillary sinus - which is closely related to the floor of the orbit - inflammation can spread to the eye socket, for example in the case of a tooth root inflammation in the upper jaw.
The paranasal sinuses include the frontal sinus, maxillary sinus, sphenoid sinus and ethmoid cells.
Inflammation of the eye socket can spread to the cranial cavity and the cavernous sinus at the top of the orbit pyramid through the bone openings. In the latter case, a life-threatening blockage of blood vessels can result from a blood clot (cavernous sinus thrombosis)!
Injuries to the eye socket
Fractures in the midface area often affect the orbit as well. If someone is hit directly on the eye, the floor of the orbit may break with the floor and wall of the orbit shifting outwards. Doctors then speak of a blow-out fracture.
The blow-in fracture is less common: This type of orbital fracture is associated with an inward displacement of the floor and wall of the orbit. Usually an exophthalmos is also associated with it (see below).
Exophthalmos
The protrusion of the eyeball from the eye socket (either only in one or both eyes) is called exophthalmos ("googly eyes"). In adults, the most common cause of this is endocrine orbitopathy - an immunologically induced inflammation of the contents of the orbit, such as the one that mainly develops in Graves' disease.
In children with bulging eyes, there is often a tumor or a purulent inflammation of the eye socket behind it.
As mentioned above, the exophthalmos can also be associated with a specific fracture of the eye socket (blow-in fracture).
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