Bone · Head

Vomer

Vomer

A thin flat blade of bone standing on the midline of the nasal cavity, forming the lower and rear part of the septum that divides the two nostrils. Its name is Latin for ploughshare, which is close to its shape. It is one of only two bones of the face that is single rather than paired — the mandible is the other — so it sits exactly on the midline with a nasal airway on either side. The septum is bone only towards the back, the vomer below and the ethmoid's downward plate above it; the part of the septum you can pinch at the front of your nose is cartilage, not this bone.