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People Are Learning What The Mysterious Holes In Our Eyelids Do

People Are Learning What The Mysterious Holes In Our Eyelids Do

No one seemed to know what the little holes were for - and let's not lie, neither did we

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

Reddit pulls it out of the bag, once again. Grab a mirror, guys, and pull down your eyelid because you're in for a treat.

See those little teeny, tiny holes near to the inner corner. We're going to learn about them today.

You might have thought they were where tears come from, but these majestic little things are actually a sort of funnel, which enables the tears that aren't rolling down your cheeks, to travel through.

They end up in your nose and that explains why we all get snotty af when we're having a good ol' cry.

Diogo Melo Rocha/Wikimedia Commons

An explainer was posted on to Reddit with many people, including the original author, admitting they were 'today years old' when they found out those holes aren't where tears come from but instead where they drain to.

The holes - which are technically called lacrimal puncta - take tears on a journey to the nose. Our tears actually come from glands above the eyes.

The post on social media was captioned: "Today I learned that the reason we get a runny nose after crying is because the leftover fluid that wasn't shed through tears gets drained into the nose through the 'lacrimal point' (that weird mysterious hole on your lower eyelid)."

They shared an explainer video from YouTube channel WATOP, which added: "All our tears that have not had time to fall down our cheeks dramatically get there.

"There's a nasolacrimal canal - through it the liquid is drained into the nose and then everything is clear.

"Yes, it's thanks to the lacrimal points that it's impossible to cry without all the snot. No beautiful movie crying. This is not what we asked for, evolution."

Shutterstock

In response, one person wrote: "Okay holy s*** I went to a mirror and there really is a hole there, on both sides. Were those there? The whole time?

"I'm freaking out a little I've looked at my eyes so much over the years there's no way but there it is.

"Alright wake up now. Stop putting new holes in my eyes please. Damnit I dated a nurse for two years, this is IMPOSSIBLE."

Another wrote: "Just learned about this now. My immediate reaction internally was, 'Holy s***, the human body is fucking amazing,' then started wondering about all the other random, cool parts of our anatomy I have no clue about."

Imrankabirhossain/Wikimedia Commons

A third added: "I did the same thing right after reading the title - walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror to see if I actually had holes in my eyelids. Mind blown."

Providing a little explainer, another wrote: "In a way they are ducts for tears. But the tears are produced in the opposite side and above the eye, then they wash down and towards the middle and spread through blinking, and drain out of these little punctums.

"There's actually one in the upper and lower eyelid. Then they form a canal that drains ultimately into the nasal passage."

Eeeee, well I never knew that.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Interesting, Community