Lacrimal canaliculus

The lacrimal canaliculi (lacrimal canals; lacrimal ducts), are the small channels (about 1 cm) in each eyelid that commence at the puncta lacrimalia, on the summits of the papillae 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. Able to be seen under microscope, they are lined by nonkeratinizing stratified squamous epithelium surrounded by fibrous tissue.

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.