Piriform aperture

"Pyriplasty" redirects here; not to be confused with Pyeloplasty or Pyloroplasty.

The piriform aperture, pyriform aperture, or anterior nasal aperture is a pear-shaped opening in the human skull. Its long axis is vertical, and narrow end upward; in the recent state it is much contracted by the lateral nasal cartilage and the greater and lesser alar cartilages of the nose. It is bounded above by the inferior borders of the nasal bones; laterally by the thin, sharp margins which separate the anterior from the nasal surfaces of the maxilla; and below by the same borders, where they curve medialward to join each other at the anterior nasal spine.^[1]

Piriform aperture
A human skull with the piriform aperture circled in red
Details
Identifiers
Latin	apertura piriformis
TA98	A02.1.00.088
TA2	493
FMA	53137
Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata]

Congenital nasal piriform aperture stenosis (CNPAS) is a rare neonatal condition related to holoprosencephaly. Infants with the condition present bony growth of the frontonasal process which narrows the piriform aperture and causes mild to severe respiratory distress. Surgical intervention may be needed to treat CNPAS.^[2]

The enlargement of the piriform aperture, called piriplasty, is an surgical procedure used to treat internal nasal valve obstruction in adults. Piriplasty may be effective in some cases, although it has not been studied much, and there is no current consensus on what normal piriform aperture dimensions may be.^[3] Another form of surgery on the side wall of the nose popularized by the Swiss surgeon Danel Simmen, is called piriformisplasty, and is characterized by removal of bone on the side wall of the nasal cavity, not of the aperture it self but especially the bone around the tear duct and of the inferior turbinate, in order to treat nasal stenosis.