Middle nasal concha

The medial surface of the labyrinth of ethmoid consists of a thin lamella, which descends from the under surface of the cribriform plate, and ends below in a free, convoluted margin, the middle nasal concha (middle nasal turbinate).

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 middle turbinates insert anteriorly into the frontal process of the maxilla and posteriorly into the perpendicular plate of the palatine bone. There are three mutually perpendicular segments of the middle turbinate: from proximal to distal, there is the horizontal segment (axial plane), the basal lamella (coronal plane), and the vertical segment (sagittal plane).