Its floor tends to be almost level with the alar cartilage, which forms the openings for the nostrils.

In front, the greater alar cartilages are separated by a notch which corresponds with the apex of the nose.

The paired alar cartilages configure a tripod-shaped union that supports the lower third of the nose.

Alar cartilages can refer to:

The nostrils have an outer ring made of cartilage (the alar cartilage), which serves to hold them open during inhalation.

Greater alar cartilage (cartilago alaris major)

If an alar cartilage is missing, either partially or entirely, it is reconstructed with cartilage grafts.

Lesser alar cartilages (cartilago alaris minor)

The accessory nasal cartilages are small cartilages of the nose connecting the greater alar cartilage and lateral nasal cartilage.

Its long axis is vertical, and narrow end upward; in the recent state it is much contracted by the lateral nasal cartilage and alar cartilages of the nose.

The dome of the nostrils defines the apex of the alar cartilage, which supports the nasal tip, and is responsible for the light reflex of the tip.

It arises from the margin of the nasal notch of the maxilla, and from the lesser alar cartilages, and is inserted into the skin near the margin of the nostril.

Where the lateral cartilage meets the greater alar cartilage, the lateral cartilage often curls up, to join with an inward curl of the greater alar cartilage.

Absent alar cartilages can be replaced using all of the conchal cartilage from both ears; two strips, each 10 mm wide, are harvested from the antihelical fold, and then are applied as replacement alar wings.

The Dilator naris anterior is a delicate fasciculus, passing from the greater alar cartilage to the integument near the margin of the nostril; it is situated in front of the Dilatator naris posterior muscle.

Furthermore, some persons present anatomical evidence of nasal scrolling - i.e. an outward curving of the lower borders of the upper lateral-cartilages, and an inward curving of the cephalic borders of the alar cartilages.

One of these is inserted into the greater alar cartilage and skin of the nose; the other is prolonged into the lateral part of the upper lip, blending with the infraorbital head and with the Orbicularis oris.

Its anterior margin, thickest above, is connected with the nasal bones, and is continuous with the anterior margins of the lateral cartilages; below, it is connected to the medial crura of the greater alar cartilages by fibrous tissue.

The greater alar cartilage (lower lateral cartilage) is a thin, flexible plate, situated immediately below the lateral nasal cartilage, and bent upon itself in such a manner as to form the medial wall and lateral wall of the naris of its own side.

The skin of the mid-third of the nose covers the cartilaginous dorsum and the upper lateral cartilages and is relatively elastic, but, at the (far) distal-third of the nose, the skin adheres tightly to the alar cartilages, and is little distensible.

Eun-Sang Dhong (Korean:동은상) of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Korea University Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, measured 52 alar cartilages of 26 Koreans and concluded that the alar cartilages" in Asians is not much smaller than whites.