Meatus

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

In anatomy, a meatus is a natural body opening or canal (Latin, 4th declension pl. meatus, or meatuses - often incorrectly meati).

Examples include:

• the external acoustic meatus, the opening of the ear canal
• The internal auditory meatus, a canal in the temporal bone of the skull
• the urinary meatus, which is the opening of the urethra, situated on the glans penis in males, and in the vulva in females
• the superior meatus, middle meatus and inferior meatus of the nose

See also

• mucous membrane
• meatal stenosis