The Eye Socket
The orbit â your eye's built-in crash cage
Your eyeball sits inside a bony cave with a roof, a floor and two walls. That cave â the orbit â protects your eye so well that most hits never reach the soft part.
The eye socket from the front
Real anatomy picture coming soon
Real anatomy photo spot: seven bones forming the orbit, with the optic canal behind
Seven bones, one cave
Each orbit is built from seven bones: the frontal bone forms the roof, the maxilla the floor, the zygomatic the outer wall, and four more bones form the inner walls. Behind the cave runs a tunnel â the optic canal â where the optic nerve carries everything your eye sees straight to your brain.
Built-in armor
The orbit's rim is thick and strong, while the walls are thin like eggshell. A punch or ball usually hits the strong rim first â the eye escapes. Doctors call the eye socket the body's crash cage. Blink, and the eyelid adds a soft windshield wiper on top!
Mr. Bones says: I'm a fictional skeleton, not a doctor! This is for learning and fun. If anything hurts, stop and tell a grown-up you trust.
