Middle nasal concha

Last revised by Craig Hacking on 3 May 2023

The middle nasal conchae or turbinates are one of the pairs of conchae in the nose, but unlike the inferior nasal conchae, these are not separate bones but part of the ethmoid bone.

Gross anatomy

The middle nasal concha consists of the medial surface of the labyrinth of ethmoid which is a thin basal lamella that descends from the undersurface of the cribriform plate and ends in a free, convoluted margin.

It is rough, and marked above by numerous grooves, directed nearly vertically downward from the cribriform plate; they lodge branches of the olfactory nerves, which are distributed to the mucous membrane covering the superior nasal concha.

The air passage between the middle nasal concha and the lateral nasal wall is known as the middle meatus.

Variant anatomy

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