*
The medial wall is formed by the ethmoid bone, along with contributions from the frontal, lacrimal, and sphenoid bones. Anteriorly, the medial wall is indented by the lacrimal groove and fossa for the lacrimal sac. The bone forming the medial wall is paper thin, and the ethmoid air cells are often visible through the bone of a dried cranium.
*
The lateral wall is formed by the frontal process of the zygomatic bone and the greater wing of the sphenoid. This is the strongest and thickest wall, which is important because it is most exposed and vulnerable to direct trauma. Its posterior part separates the orbit from the temporal lobes of the brain and middle cranial fossae.
*
The inferior wall (floor) is formed mainly by the maxilla and partly by the zygomatic and palatine bones. The thin inferior wall is shared by the orbit superiorly and the maxillary sinus inferiorly. It slants inferiorly from the apex to the inferior orbital margin. The inferior wall is demarcated from the lateral wall by the inferior orbital fissure.
*
The apex of the orbit is at the optic canal in the lesser wing of the sphenoid, just medial to the superior orbital fissure.
The bones forming the orbit are lined with periorbita (periosteum of the orbit). The periorbita is continuous at the optic canal and superior orbital fissure with the periosteal layer of dura mater. The periorbita is also continuous over the orbital margins and through the inferior orbital fissure with the periosteum covering the external surface of the cranium (pericranium) and with the orbital septa at the orbital